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SI sx Congress, 1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. f Mis. Doc. 

1st Session. J 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



SAMUEL J. RANDALL, 

A REPRESENTATIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 

FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

I 89 I. 



Us 



JOINT RESOLUTION TO PRINT THE EULOGIES UPON SAMUEL J. RANDALL. 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That there he printed of the 
eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late SamtjelJ. Randall, a Rep- 
resentative in the Fifty-first Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, 
twenty-tive thousand copies, of which six thousand copies shall he for the 
use of the Senate and nineteen thousand copies shall be for the use of the 
House of Representatives ; and the Secretary of the Treasury he, and he is 
hereby, directed to have printed a portrait of the said Samuel J. Randall, 
to accompany said eulogies, and for thepurposeof engraving and printing 
said portrait the sum of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may 
be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated. That of the quota to the House of Representa- 
tives the Public Printer shall set apart fifty copies, which he shall have 
bound in full morocco, with gilt edges, the same to be delivered when com- 
pleted to the family of the deceased. 

Approved, September 19, 1890. 

2 



AUG 6 1908 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. 



April 14, 1890. 

Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to 
announce the death of my colleague, Hon. Samuel J. Ran- 
dall, who died yesterday (Sunday) morning, in this city, 
in his own house, at 5 o'clock. This announcement to me 
is extremely painful. He and I, through all the years of 
his life, were intimate, familiar friends. Although he was 
seven years younger than myself, yet he started in life at 
twenty-one years of age a fully equipped man in every re-^- * 
spect, intellectually, politically, and as one who had even 
in that early day the elements of supreme leadership, which 
in his later years was completed in the estimation of his 
State and of the country. 

But three months ago it came to my lot to announce the 
death of another colleague of many years' service — Judge 
Kelley; and it is a shock to my feelings which I can scarcely 
repress when to-day I am announcing the death of this dear s 
colleague. Upon the first Monday of December. L863, we ; 
stood before the Speaker's desk, and were sworn into office 
as members of the Thirty-eighth Congress. 

Politically we have differed, but personally there has been 
between us in all these years a depth of friendship which it 
seems to me I can not to-day express to this House. 

3 



4 Announcement of DeatJi. 

We have lost a distinguished man. To-day the city of 
Philadelphia grieves over his death as it has seldom been 
called to grieve over the death of a public man. The whole 
State of Pennsylvania mourns his decease; and I may say 
that the country is saddened at this moment while Ave are 
here announcing the mournful event. 

He was a great man, a statesman, a pure man in his daily 
life, with strong attachments personally. Indeed, Mr. 
Speaker, I do not know when in Congress any member has 
died to whom then- were so many, many personal attach- 
ments. I noticed yesterday and to-day in the streets of this 
city that every flag upon every building was at half-mast; 
a ad I notice in the newspapers from Philadelphia to-day 
that there at his own home the same spectacle is presented — 
indeed, every mark of sadness being manifested. 

I can not say more to-day, for you all know that a few 
weeks from this we shall have opportunity to pronounce our 
eulogies upon his life. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions 
which I send to the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Rest >/ fi'i I, That the House has heard with deep regi'et and prof ound sor- 
row of the death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, late a Representative from 
the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That a committee of nine members of the House, with such 
members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to attend the 
funeral of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the House do now adjourn. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

The Speaker announced the appointment of Mr. O'Neill 
of Pennsylvania. Mr. Carlisle, Mr. Harmer. Mr. Holnian. 
'Sir. Cannon, Mr. Forney. Mr. McKinley, Mr. Springer, and 

Mr. Keilly as the committee on the part of the House under 
the.serond resolution. 

The House then (at 12 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m.) ad- 
journed. 



Eulogies. 



EULOGIES. 

May 2, 1890. 
Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania. The gentleman from Texas 
yields to me to offer a resolution fixing the clay for eulogies 
upon my late colleague, Mr. Randall. 
The resolution was read, as follows: 

Resolved, That Saturday, June 14, beginning at 1 o'clock, afternoon, 
be set apart for paying tribute to the memory of Hon. Samuel Jacks' n 
Randall, late a member of the House of Representatives from the Third 
district of the State of Pennsylvania. 

The resolution was adopted. 



June 14, 1890. 

The Speaker. The hour of 1 o'clock having arrived, the 
Clerk will report the special order of the day. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That Saturday. June 14, beginning at 1 o'clock p. m.. be sel 
apart for paying tribute to the memory of the Hon. Samuel JACKSON 
Randall, late a member of the House of Representatives from the Third 
district of the State of Pennsylvania. 



6 Address of Air. O^ Ncill, of Pennsylvania, on the 



Address of Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: At 6 o'clock Sunday morning. April 13, 1 was 
awakened by a messenger at my rooms in this city, inform- 
ing me that my colleague, Samuel Jackson Randall, had 
died but an hour before at his residence, No. 150 C street. 
southeast, but a few minutes distant from the Capitol. For 
days and hours I had expected this announcement, but when 
it came there was a suddenness in it that shocked me. losing 
in his death a companion almost from his earliest youth and 
an associate in the House of Representatives for more than 
a quarter of a century. 

It seemed to me that in those dying days of his there was 
no rest to my mind except by frequent going or sending to 
his house to learn, at times almost hourly, the condition of 
my attached personal friend. I still having a hope that his 
life might be prolonged to his family and his country. But 
death came, and in peaceful resignation, and without pain 
or suffering, his lingering illness, borne so patiently for many 
months, ended. In the presence of his wife and family, who 
had carefully nursed him and watched over him in his sick- 
ness, whose fatality could not be overcome, he breathed his 
last. 

He was born in Philadelphia, October 10. 1828. where had 
been born his father and mother, and where his grandparents 
had passed their lives, highly esteemed by its citizens. I 
knew his father and mother and his mother's father, Mr. 
Joseph Worrell, personally and well. I do not recollect ever 
having seen his grandfather, Mr. Matthew Randall, who was 
a prominent citizen. 

Be inherited from both sides of Ids parentage the tempera- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 7 

merit which brought him to so conspicuous a position in 
public life. His mother's father was a man long to be re- 
membered for his service in the councils of the city and his 
devotion to duty in many positions of honor. So firm of 
purpose, so persistent in the right, so adhering to his own 
judgment that he was often thought to be self-willed and 
obstinate. But the people believed in him. So, also, was 
the reputation of his father's father, many a time called to 
duty by his fellow-citizens. These men were men of vigor- 
ous minds and their influence in their day was felt long after 
their deaths. Their names may be found in the annals of 
Philadelphia in the forefront of the list of distinguished 
persons true to themselves and to their city. 

Josiah Randall, father of my colleague, stood abreast with 
the leaders of the bar of Philadelphia, and met in his pro- 
fessional life before judges and juries his contemporaries, 
Chauncey, Binney, Rawle, Sergeant. Brown, Dallas, the 
Ingersolls, Meredith, and others, who with him sustained 
the reputation of "the Philadelphia lawyer." that reputa- 
tion having existed from the earliest days of the bar. To- 
day it is illustrated by legal learning on the bench and in 
practice by the successors of those just named, who, older 
and younger, are keeping up the traditions of the past. 

Young Randall did not choose the prof ession of the law, 
and was not among those young men who in large numbers 
sought as students the office of his father. He had received 
a liberal education at the academy in that city conducted 
under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. His 
taste was for mercantile pursuits, and when not engaged in 
public service, and at intervals for some years after Ids 
arrival at manhood, he still remained a merchant. 

Josiah Randall, the father, indomitable in courts, fearless 
before judges or juries, never knowing failure in a cause until 



8 Address of Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the 

the final decision of the highest tribunal, taught his sons 
how great an element in life was persistence in the right. 
He was a man of courage, determination, and strong family 
affection, and literally lived with his children as their com- 
panion. He drew them to him in their youth, and as long 
as he lived they were held by him in just such associations 
and confidence as produce in children manliness and self- 
reliance, and stamp upon their lives the attributes of adevoted 
parent. 

My colleague in all these characteristics was like his dis- 
tinguished father, and with the same make-up of father and 
grandfathers, as was known to all Philadelphia, could it be 
possible that Samuel Jackson Randall could be other- 
wise then as they were and not possess just such points in 
character and action as you, my fellow-members, have wit- 
nessed in him? Under an apparent sternness, how ten- 
der in feeling and sympathy he was ! What a delight to be 
with him when surrounded by his family ! His wife, loved 
and cherished all the days of their married life, lovers to the 
last ; his children adoring him. glad to be near him, never 
pushed back when affection, brought them to his side, never 
too busy to greet them ! I do not know of a more admirable 
domestic life. how he appreciated his children's love, 
and ever taught them to approach him with their cares and 
anxieties, their s< >rr< » ws and their joys ! This, in my estima- 
tion, is to be a true father. 

Before he became a voter he felt interested in political 
affairs, and longed tor the day when lie could vote. We 
lived in the same neighborhood in adjoining wards, and in 
what was called the " city proper," before its consolidation 
witli the entire county of Philadelphia. To be a council- 
man from a ward of the old city was a greal distinction, 
and was conferred generally upon men of mature age. At 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 9 

twenty-three years of age, though, he was elected as a Whig 
to the common council, and was elected for another term 
after consolidation. His father was a prominent leader in 
the Whig party. He and this son remained Whigs until a 
year or two before the election of President Buchanan, for 
whom they both voted. 

Always active in politics, my colleague hud been a mem- 
ber of the conventions of the Whig party from the year he 
became of age, and in three of those conventions I was 
nominated for the legislature. He was in the convention of 
the same party in September, 1852, which nominated me for 
the State senate. That convention nominated him for the 
common council, and he and I in October of that year were 
elected by the Whigs to these respective positions. 

His teachings, like mine, Avere in the school of protection 
to American industry. We had learned our early lessons in T 
the tariff from the teachings of Henry Clay and the pro- 
tectionists of that day. Is it amazing that my colleague 
should have become a protectionist leader as a Democrat? 
He had not forgotten the principles taught him in that 
grand old Whig party. If he ever wavered in his views. 
his assignment by Mr. Speaker Keifer in the Forty-seventh 
Congress to the Committee on Ways and Means brought v 
him face to face with the practical questions of five trade I 
and protection, and to the latter, from a Democratic protec- 
tionist's standpoint, he stood by protection to American in- 
dustry. 

In the years 1858 and 1859 he served as a Democrat in the 
State senate, and in that dignified body of men. consisting 
of only thirty-three senators, he commenced early to show 
his aptitude for legislative work. He filled out the two 
years of the unexpired term for which he had been elected, 
impressing himself upon the people as an honorable senator. 









10 Address of Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the 

In October, L862, he was elected to the United States 
House of Representatives; he and I, with others, having 
been sworn in as members of the Thirty-eighth Congress 
upon the first Monday of December, lso:5. He continued a 
' member of the House from that time until his death, having 
been elected fourteen consecutive terms, the last two elec- 
tions he having had no Republican opponent, thus practi- 
cally having received both times the unanimous vote of the 
citizens of his district, To have sought his defeat would 
have been a marked failure, and had he survived his present 
term, again he would have had a unanimous election. 

Such a Congressional record is rare and could occur only 
by the knowledge his constituents had of his integrity and 
unselfish, intelligent attention to duty. 

In all the walks of life, private as well as public, honesty 
commends to the people in the greatest degree the man who 
never allows himself to be led astray by improper influences. 
In what body of men is honorable conduct more witnessed 
than in the Congress of the United States? Men of honor 
take their places here. Our associations here are with gen- 
tlemen high in tone, upright and incorruptible. The pride 
of our membership is that we have served and been intimate 
with Representatives whose lives in the estimation of their 
constituents and the country have exemplified honesty, in- 
tegrity, and unqualified adherence to principle. Dishonest 
action could not be tolerated in Congressional service. The 
country knew my colleague to be honest, and his devotion 
to economy in public expenditures saved many millions to 
the Treasury. 

Though burdened with public duties, never ceasing in 
work, yet he always considered the individual constituent. 
Busy as he ever was. the call of a constituenl was never 
denied. A letter from the humblest man received from him 



Life and Character of Samuel /. Randall. 1 1 

a due reply and ever a willingness to have his wishes, if in 
the right, carried out if possible. Eminent as he was in 
statesmanship, he found time to he accessible to his fellow- 
citizens and to receive them without heeding their circum- 
stances in life, rich or poor, powerful or weak, educated or 
uneducated. He was a statesman with a heart and knew 
that statesmanship failed sooner or later when courtesy, 
tenderness, and freedom of approach were denied the 
people. 

He was a man of few words, and at once his discerning 
mind gave him immediate insight into the wants of whoever 
approached him. A seeming abruptness of manner was 
merely the necessity of husbanding time, so ever occupied 
was he in public duties. But he could not be misunderstoc >< 1 , 
for a frankness of answer, whether acquiescing or refusing, 
meant just what he said, and he never deceived. 

No one was more sensitive than he. He had the power of 
concealing his hurts and disappointments. Ingratitude 
stung him to the very quick, but he was too great to make 
complaints; too honest in his own actions to look for deer it 
in others. 

I repeat, literally he was a statesman with a heart, Pro- 
motion could not spoil him, and the higher he rose in the 
public estimation the more he appreciated the honors be- 
stowed upon him and the more he felt that he should bend 
himself to listen to the necessary requirements of the people, 
never ending with those in representative life. Had he been 
transferred to the Senate called to the Cabinet, elevated to 
the Presidency. Samuel Jackson Randall would never 
have changed in manner, but the greater his advancement 
the easier of access would he have been to his countrymen. 

In the days of the rebellion he twice answered the call of 
his country, ready to fight to preserve the Union, dropping 



•f 



> 



12 Address of Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the 

his uncompromising party feeling as long as the flag was to 
be upheld. 

He never spoke in the House unless it was necessary. He 
always commanded attention, for he never wasted a word. 
In expression he was more forcible than eloquent, always 
using the fittest words. He grew to be a successful debater, 
but while he knew he had accomplished power of utterance 
and clearness in presenting his ideas he did not become a 
talker for talk's sake. He was sure to give information; 
hence always gladly heard. The intelligent debater never 
1 i r< ss the House. He never wandered from the point at issue. 
He was really great in debate, unsurpassed in repartee. 

In knowledge of parliamentary law and procedure, his con- 
stant study in the earlier as well as the later years of his serv- 
ice, he was. in my opinion, never excelled. He had learned 
not only the principles upon which the rules were established, 
but practically on the floor and as Speaker he knew how 
they should be applied. 

In leadership my colleague was preeminent. In every 
important crisis during his Congressional service he was 
found in the foreground. The pages of the Congressional 
Globe and the Congressional Record bear witness to his 
prominence upon great occasions. He had the breadth of 
mind to face opposition. In the struggle over the force bill 
he was all-powerful. In the electoral-count excitement he 
foresaw dreaded results, but by his calmness and determi- 
nation as he sat beside Acting Vice-President Ferry, equally 
calm and determined for the right, the count was completed. 

Again, without fear of criticism, he led Democratic pro- 
tectionists for the preservation of protection to American 
industry. He persistently, as chairman of the Committee 
on Appropriations, insisted, yearafter year, in reducing the 
estimates, and because, in preparing appropriation bills he 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 13 

was not influenced by localities, he was sustained as a con- 
sistent economist. His name will live in history, and lie will 
be remembered for following in action the courage of his 
convictions. These were the great triumphs of his legisla- 
tive career. 

You recollect, my fellow-members, the eloquent tributes 
to him of the Chaplain of the House and of his pastor while 
we surrounded his remains in the church here from whence • 
we followed his body to the funeral train. These men of God 
pronounced his conversion to Christ as his greatest triumph. 
Yes, this was the triumph of his life. He so considered it, 
and did not hesitate to say so to friends who visited him dur- 
ing the precious times they were privileged to see him after 
he had connected himself with the Metropolitan Presbyte- 
rian Church. To me on several occasions he said that it 
was his constant comfort, and when in pain and suffering 
his priceless consolation. O, how he wished and hoped 
his friends, in the midst of the cares of public duties, would 
feel it their greatest duty to confess Christ and become fol- 
lowers of the Lord! 

In his strong personal interest in me loving words would 
be uttered by him from his sick bed, and in his prayers, as 
told me by his devoted wife, he would ask that by the grace 
of God I should hasten to seek the same comfort and conso- 
lation as had in mercy been vouch sated to hi m. To me he 
spoke on several occasions of the frequeni visits of a dis- 
tinguished Philadelphian, high in Governmenl position 
here, whose Christian influence under God had brought him 
to realize that he was a sinner and needed forgiveness. This 
friend's prayers and words of holiness gave him peace of 
mind and removed the terrors of death. 

The ending of our personal intimacy, which had continued 
so many years, to me is sad indeed. The death of tins col- 



14 Address of Mr. CP Neill, of Pennsylvania, on the 

league of mine, younger in years than I am, and the death 
of our senior colleague, Judge Kelley, and our long-time as- 
sociate, Samuel S. Cox, have made a void which can not easily 
be tilled. Cox. Kelley, Randall, three Representatives 
serving at the same time, twenty-five years and over, to- 
gether, dead within a period of less than seven months \ 
What a blow to their surviving fellow-members ! What a 
L»ss to their country ! Certainly they have never been ex- 
celled in intelligence, influence, and ability in any Congress 
from the organization of the Government. 

Our hearts were crushed as we passed our resolutions in 
the House upon the announcement of Mr. Randall's death. 
While his colleagues from Pennsylvania at their meeting 
were expressing their more direct personal grief over the 
departure of one of their own. the executive committee of 
the Labor League of the District of Columbia bemoaned in 
touching resolves the loss of him "as one of the greatest 
benefactors of the workingmen who had ever occupied a seat 
in Congress." The citizens of Pennsylvania who were pres- 
ent in this city met in large numbers and deplored in words 
of affection and heartfelt feeling that a great man of their 
Commonwealth had died. 

Those of us whose melancholy duty it was to follow him 
to his place of burial will never forget the faces of sadness 
we saw upon the thousands of Philadelphia people whose 
affection for him took them to his grave. The poor, the 
rich, the young, the old. were there to shed tears over the 
remains of their deceased friend and fellow-citizen. Men, 
women, and children in countless throngs looked upon his 
countenance, placid in death, for the last time. Eminent 
men of all political parties paid homage to him who in life, 
though a partisan, had won their friendship and esteem. 
His simplicity of manner, his kindly greetings, his devotion 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 15 

to the individual, liis courage to do what he believed was 
right, his fearlessness in asserting his opinions, endeared him 
to all men. They mourned his death not only as a loss to 
their city, their State, and their country, but wept over him 
personally as those who "would not be comforted." 

His wish that his funeral should be devoid of pomp and 
ceremony was fully carried out in Washington. In Phila- 
delphia there was no ostentation, but the hearts of the peo- 
ple could not be restrained. Their desire of bearing testi- 
mony by their presence to his virtues, his unsullied life as a 
Representative and as a man, brought multitudes from all 
parts of the city in unformed procession, but in the quiet- 
ness of profound grief, to see their deceased friend laid at rest 
in Laurel Hill Cemetery. He was honored in death as in life 
as few men have been honored. 

Samuel Jackson Randall died a professing Christian. 
The solemnity of his death, the loving scenes at his inter- 
ment, will linger long in our memories, and while we are 
pronouncing our tributes upon him let our prayer be to the 
Lord that the dread messenger in His mercy may not again 
visit the Fifty-hrst Congress. 



Address of Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: I served with Mr. Randall in the Senate 
of Pennsylvania more than thirty years ago. at two annual 
sessions of that body, and the friendly relations then estab- 
lished between us remained unbroken to the end of his life. 
In common with all who knew him I had ureal respeci for 
his qualities of mind and heart and great confidence in his 
principles of conduct in public and private life. To be 
ranked above all other characteristics which he exhibited 



16 Address of Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, on the 

as a public man was fixed integrity and tireless industry, 
which, being united with sound judgment, won for him the 
confidence of associates and long-continued support from 
the people. He had also a kindness of heart which fitted 
him for friendship and for all its genial and generous 
works. 

1 join cordially and with full conviction of their truth in 
the eulogiums upon Mr. Randall's character and career 
which have been pronounced by others, but shall not under- 
take to express in language of my own the sentiments and 
opinions which I hold concerning him. Repetition of what 
has been well said would be idle and useless, and I shall 
therefore confine my remarks to two of the important sub- 
jects with which Mr. Randall was concerned in recent 
years and his position upon which will always deeply affect 
his reputation as a public man. 

THE TARIFF. 

Undoubtedly the greatest trial of Mr. Randall's courage, 
fortitude, and power of will was in the Fiftieth Congress, 
when he was called upon by imperative necessity to read- 
just his position upon the tariff question, or to adapt it to new 
conditions, political and financial; and what he then said 
and did under circumstances of great difficulty is liable to 
misinterpretation. It was a question upon which he was 
conservative — opposed to violent changes — and certainly as 
much opposed to such changes increasing duties as in reduc- 
ing them. Although at that time to stand still was impos- 
sible under the pressure of a surplus, he shrank from that 
disturbance of existing interests which was implied in radi- 
cal reduction; and the same conservative spirit would have 
caused him to oppose any general increase of duties designed 
to reduce revenue. He. therefore, voted against the Mills 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 17 

bill of 1888, and would have voted against the move recent 
McKinley bill if it had been proposed. This sufficiently ap- 
pears from his tariff bill and speech of 1888, and from his 
other speeches, Congressional and popular, made prior to 
that time. He made no pretension to profound knowledge 
of political economy or the laws of production and trade, 
but he commenced public life thirty years ago with a predi- 
lection for the Whig doctrine of protection, as defined and 
limited by its authors sixty years ago, and this predilection 
appeared in sundry efforts made by him in later years, not 
only in Congress, but in certain State and National conven- 
tions of his party; but I do not understand that he ever 
adopted or gave countenance to the comparatively modern 
doctrine of prohibitory duties, or duties to exclude the im- 
portation of foreign goods. In fact, his declarations against 
a policy to that end were somewhat numerous, and were no 
doubt perfectly sincere. 

His re-election to the present Congress was a most gener- 
ous and significant indorsement of his public career, given 
by men most of whom did not agree with him in opinion 
upon the most conspicuous measure of the preceding session. 
They felt pride in his reputation; they knew that his service 
had been greatly useful to his country, and that his ability 
and his character as their representative did them infinite 
honor. 

To judge the action of a public man upon any signal occa- 
sion we must take into account his personal relations and 
the circumstances of the time. Upon the question of import 
duties, Mr. Randall had been subjected to the antagonism 
of rivals for party and public favor, the recollection of 
which in 1888 lingered in men's minds. Morrison bills in 
the House and platform making in political conventions 
had assigned to him a position peculiar and conspicuous, 
H. Mis. 265 2 



18 Address of Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, on the 

which lie ili<l not feel free to disregard; and besides, a? a 
leadei of his party, devoted to its welfare and success, he 
feared and deprecated the political effect o f the comprehen- 
sive and important revenue changes proposed. These are 
explanations which enable us better to understand his posi- 
tion and judge his motives when he cast a remarkable vote 
in this House in July, 1888. It was a time of transition 
and change in public opinion — a change, in the opinion of 
many, still in progress — with what result the future will 
determine. Whether Mr. Randall, if he had lived, would 
have advanced with the so-called reform movement or would 
have continued to stand upon the compromise ground indi- 
cated by his bill of 1888 must be a matter of opinion or con- 
jecture; but with those who knew his devotion to his party, 
and his deep-seated conviction that the success of that party 
was essential to the public welfare, the former opinion will 
prevail. 

HOUSE RULES. 

1 will conclude by referring to Mr. Randall's deliberate 
and settled opinion uponasubjeci which has been somewhat 
debated since he was disabled for attendance upon the House, 
and which will doubtless receive renewed consideration here- 
after. 

He was of opinion- that the rules of this House and the 
joint rules of the two Houses should be made to check or 
prevent hasty, improvident, passionate, and unconsidered 
legislation, and tocurbthe selfishness and injustice of party 
majorities. And he had his full share of responsibility for 
the stringent rules which were in force during all the later 
years of his public service. For having been twice Speaker 
of the House, and one of the oldesl members in service, his 
opinions upon the rules carried weight and were deferred to 
by newer men. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 19 

That those rules were in one or two particulars unduly 
stringent, because liable to gross abuse, was a concession 
freely made in recent debate, and their correction in those 
particulars would have occasioned little if any objection. 

But. in the main, in all essential particulars Mr. Randall 
was right, and in justice to his memory, and because the 
question is important, I submit these observations. 

He held with Mr. Madison that of all the branches of 
government in a free country the legislative is most liable 
to an abuse of its powers, and requires the strongest limita- 
tions. Possessing the power to make Jaws and to change 
laws, it is stronger than the executive or the judiciary, 
charged with the subordinate or secondary duty of expound- 
ing, applying, and enforcing those laws; its members stand- 
ing free from constitutional impeachment, and the two 
Houses, from their very constitution, being peculiarly liable 
to hasty, passionate, impulsive influences, and little fitted to 
resist them, it follows that there should be strong curbs 
upon their action besides the executive check of the veto 
provided for by the Constitution. These were matured 
views announced by Mr. Madison in his later writings. It 
is not my business at present to argue this proposition or to 
defend it. but to state it as the ground of Mr. Randall's 
position upon so-called ••obstructive rules.'" which In- 
assisted to form and uphold, and in the utility and necessity 
of which he firmly believed. 

It is probable that the soundness of his view will he 
illustrated at the present session of Congress, both as to the 
immaturity and faults of measures passed without due con- 
sideration and also as to the duration of the session, which 
bids fair to he as long under t he new rules as under t he old 
ones. But I turn to a more decisive illustration afforded by 
the action of most of the States in modern times. Nearly 






20 .Address of Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania^ on the 

everywhere in the old States and in the new constitu- 
tions have been adopted which impose severe limitations 
upon the State legislatures, not only as to the subjects 
of their jurisdiction, but also as to their modes of proced- 
ure in the enactment of laws. Among these are the re- 
quirements that a bill must be read at length on three 
different days in each House; lulls and amendments must 
be printed before acted upon; the purpose of a bill can 
not be changed by amendment, and that purpose must be 
clearly expressed in the title; the yeas and nays must be 
taken upon the final passage of any bill; must be recorded 
on the Journal, and in order to the passage of the bill a 
majority of all the members elected to each House must be 
recorded as voting in its favor; appropriations to charitable 
objects must have a two-thirds vote on their passage. These 
and many other procedure limitations appear in all the new 
State constitutions, and they are in addition to codes of leg. 
islative rules, which, to a great extent, are limitations also. 
But if the necessity of limitations upon legislative proceed- 
ings has been felt in all the States, how much more are such 
limitations in the Congress of the United States, and in the 
absence of constitutional amendment to cover the necessity 
is it not imperative upon the two Houses to adopt standing 
rules and orders which shall, as far as possible, supply the 
place of such amendment? Rules which can not be set aside 
at pleasure by a majority may be made to accomplish, to a 
great extent, like objects to those had in view by the people 
of the States in their procedure amendments. If a State 
with limited territory and population — witli a revenue of 
only a few millions and an expenditure of like amount — can 
not have wise, pure, and satisfactory government without 
strong procedure curbs upon its legislature, can any one 
deny the greater necessity for such curbs in and upon Con- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 21 

gress, a legislature with hundreds of millions of revenue 
and expenditure and with larger jurisdiction over the whole 
country and all its people? 



Address of Mr. Mutchler, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: When one feels a loss as of that of a com- 
rade, and as a matter of personal experience can recall the 
genial kindness and courteous consideration for others which 
marked Samuel Jackson Randall's intercourse with his 
fellow-men. it is difficult to speak calmly of his completed 
life and untimely death. 

There is something chilling and repressing in premedi- 
tated eulogy; yet to give vent to the feelings and to put into 
words the sorrow which all who knew him feel because we 
shall look upon his face no more would not befit this occasion. 

Memory brings back to us all very vividly the dignified pres- 
ence, the earnest voice, the impressive manner of the man 
who but a few short weeks ago was a leader in this House, 
a living power among living men, molding public opinion 
and shaping national policy. 

It is hard to realize that we shall hear the earnest tones 
of his voice no more, and that here, where yet the eclx>r> 
still linger, in accordance with the custom of this body, kind 
words are spoken of him to-day as flowers are sometimes 
dropped into new-made graves. 

He was a man whose strength of character, whose sterling 
integrity, and tenacity of purpose the masses of his country- 
men fully comprehended. His was not the dazzling bril- 
liancy of genius which is directed as by inspiration and 
compels public attention, but he was one of the workers who 
tirelessly take up the duties of every day and patiently and 






22 Address of Mr. Mutchler, of Pennsylvania, on the 

laboriously build that which endures. Slowly, carefully, 
and methodically he examined every public question, and 
however difficult the problems involved might he he would 
patiently and thoughtfully consider them until he was pre- 
pared to debate and vote intelligently and understandingly. 
The one great end and aim of his Congressional life was to 
do his duty, and — 

He walked attended 

By a strong-aiding champion — conscience — 

bringing to the labors of every day the strong common 
sense and vigorous interest of an earnest, faithful, honest 
man. 

There were times, though not often, when I thought his 
views were wrong. But there never was a time that I did 
not know, whatever his position, that he believed he was 
right. I know of no man who served with him in public 
life (and I know many) who. however he may have differed 
with him. would not to-day gladly stand beside me to testify 
to his fidelity to the right as it was given to him to see it. 

His life was a protest against the ignoble love of ease and 
pleasure, and the prevalent and degrading worship of wealth 
which poisons our national life had no abiding place in his 
generous nature. He never ate the bread of idleness, and 
in the sturdy independence of his character he valued men 
for what they did rather than for what they had, for the 
noble qualities of their minds and not for the bulk of their 
material wealth.. 

Although not always in accord with the majority of his 
party on questions of public policy, yet Mr. Randall was 
essentially a Democrat, believing with all his heart in the 
simple customs of the early days of our national existence, 
and heartily despising the tinsel and glitter, the pomp and 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 23 

vanity, extravagance and luxury of these latter days. He 
talked well, and always to the purpose, when there was oc- 
casion, and was among the most potent of all the able 
advocates who have graced the halls of the American Con- 
gress, because his speeches were strong with a power of a 
strong man's conviction. He was a thinker and a worker 
whose self-denying faithfulness in the discharge of arduous 
duties gave him such large experience and intimate knowl- 
edge of public affairs that no man without such special 
training can hope to till his place. 

Such men sent here to represent the people do honor to 
the people's cause. The dangerous brilliancy of genius is 
more attractive and the melody of eloquent orators will 
charm for awhile against the voice of reason itself, but it is 
the unswerving honesty of purpose, the sturdy common 
sense, and steadfast adherence to duty of such men as he 
that preserve to us all that is best and worth preserving in 
our national life. 

It is not necessary that I should dwell further upon this 
melancholy subject, nor that I should tell this House, nor 
the millions whom we here represent, who Samuel J. Ran- 
dall was. His fame as an honest, wise, and faithful rep- 
resentative of the people is as wide as the Union itself. In 
his death the great State of Pennsylvania mourns the loss 
of a, citizen whom she delighted to honor, and this great 
country that of one of her wisest and most patriotic states- 
men. His pitiable condition for many months prior to his 
death can not be contemplated without feeling of the mosl 
profound sorrow. Suffering with a painful and incurable 
malady, lie battled long and manfully for Life, and never 
ceased to hope until the grim messenger of death closed his 
eyes in peaceful and. as to all earthly scenes, eternal slum- 
ber. There is a rustle among the leaves and a sound like a 



24 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, on the 

sob as the ripe fruit falls upon the sod beneath the trees ; 
and that is all. The sun shines, and the shadows fall, and 
the wind whispers among the leaves as before. 

The time of bud and blossom comes again and again, and 
the snow's white mantle falls upon the graves of departed 
friends. The awful indifference of nature to the darkness 
and pain and sorrow of death seems harsh and pitiless as we 
turn from the grave to the teeming life of a summer's day. 
" If a man die shall he live again?" Generation after gen- 
eration the sons and daughters of men have come and gone 
since that heart-stirring inquiry was first recorded. Science 
has been appealed to in vain to answer, and all the passion- 
ate longings of love get no reply. Our friends and loved 
ones pass from life — and the rest is silence. Only faith can 
make a hopeful response, and never is faith so hopeful as 
when, regarding duty well performed, it listens in the dark- 
ness of the tomb and hears the still small voice: "Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant."' 



Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker: I made the acquaintance of the late Samuel 
J. Randall in the Forty-third Congress. During that Con- 
gress we both had service on the Committee on Post-Offices 
and Post-Roads. I did not become intimately acquainted 
with him, however, until after he was elected Speaker of the 
House. From that time until his death our relations were 
not only cordial but intimate. No tribute that I can pay 
in words to his memory would be adequate to his merit as a 
man. his worth as a citizen, or to the record that he made 
as a legislator. That is the Lest evidence of his work when 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randal/. '25 

living, and the most splendid monument to his memory, 
dead. 

Others have spoken of his character in private life, his 
virtues as a husband, brother, and father. 

I attended his funeral as one of the committee of the 
House. If it is given to the departed spirit to witness 
what passes after death on earth, the spirit of Samuel J. 
Randall could not but have been gratified at the exhibition 
of respect to his memory as a public man and one beloved 
for his virtues as a private citizen that was rendered by the 
multiplied thousands of worthy people when his body was 
committed to the dust. Such men, living, are a blessing to 
the race, and after death serve as useful examples and 
mainsprings of sentiment and action to others in public life, 
especially to the young, whose faces are turned toward the 
east, watching the rising sun, with the expectation of enter- 
ing into public life themselves. 

As a Representative and as chairman of the Committee 
on Appropriations, over whose deliberations Mr. Randall 
so long and so ably presided, I beg permission to spread upon 
the record of the House the minutes touching his deatli 
offered in that committee by the gentleman from Kentucky 
[Mr. Breckinridge] and entered upon its journal: 

Upon the organization of the House of Representatives of the Forty- 
fourth Congress, Samuel J. Randall was assigned to the chairmanship 
of this committee, and won in a single session of his service as such chair- 
man the highest reputation. Uniler his personal influence and leadership 
the annual expenditures of the Government were reduced nearly thirty 
millions of dollars, not only without impairing the efficiency of any 
Bureau or Department, hut actually to the betterment of the public 
service. 

This single statement demonstrates the very great qualities which he 
must have possessed to have accomplished such results. He brought to 
the discharge of his duties the experienceof twelve years of service in 
the House, an unfailing resolution, an intrepid will, great and unflagging 
industry, and an aggressive and spotless integrity. 



26 Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, on the 

He made himself the master of every department of Government, and 
became absolutely familiar with all the necessities of the public service. 
It was perhaps impossible for any one in political sympathy with the 
Executive Department to have accomplished this reduction: but that it 
was wisely done has been proven by the fact that the leaders of the House. 
of both parties, have rigorously adhered to the general principles he laid 
down and substantially to the appropriations to which he gave his sanc- 
tion. It is perhaps not saying too much that the action t of Mr. Randall, 
as the chairman of this committee, in the first session of the Forty-fourth 
Congress gave vigor and hope of victory to the Democratic party and 
exposed to the Republican party the dangers which confronted it. His 
service as Speaker in the Forty-fourth. Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth Con- 
gresses exhibited the same intrepid courage, the same mastery of details, 
and personal integrity. As chairman of this committee in the Forty- 
eighth, Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses, he preserved in the House 
its control of the public purse, its supervisory power over the expendi- 
tures of the Government, and its proper influence in our Government of 
checks and balances. 

In Ins private intercourse with his colleagues on the committee he was 
always pleasant, courteous, careful of the feelings of those with whom 
he associated, generous in his praise of their efforts, anxious to promote 
fchem and to give to each an opportunity for public reputation. 

To these qualities were added a familiarity with the rules of parlia- 
mentary procedure and a capacity for leadership on the floor of the 
House which rendered it easy for him to succeed in carrying through 
the House the bills which under his supervision were prepared in the com- 
mittee. It is extremely rare that these qualities are combined in a single 
individual: that he who was master of parliamentary procedure, and a 
great parliamentary leader on the floor of the House, should also have 
that careful and painstaking industry, that willful and aggressive integ- 
rity and complete knowledge of all departmental affairs which made him 
easily the chief of the colleagues who sat with him around the commit- 
tee table. 

During all the years in which he served as Representative and as mem- 
ber of this committee, never for one moment was there the slightest sus- 
picion that he was in any way connected with any job. Absolutely pure 
in his personal aid pecuniary relations, he could afford to do many things 
and to subject himself to much opposition which otherwise would have 
been impossible. He and all the world knew that he was invulnerable 
to any personal attack. 

Intensely partisan as he was in his nature, his convictions, and his 
hopes, he never permitted any difference of political opinions to invade 
the personal relations which he hi .re to his colleagues on this committee, 
QOr to color his sense of justice to those with whom he served. Indeed. 
his sense of duty to the country and the Government always controlled 



Life dud Character of Samuel J. Randall. -11 

him as chairman of this committee. He believed that it was to the 
interest of the common people without regard to party that the expendi- 
tures should be kept within the necessities of the Government, and that 
all reform was based upon a strict economy. 

It is therefore but the severest justice that we who were his colleagues, 
and who are called to perform the duties which were assigned to him! 
should put on record our admiration for the qualities which he exhibited 
in this position, for the conspicuous and increased power which he gave 
to this committee, and our personal affection f ( >r him. To some who have 
been associated with him around this table for years Ids death is a 
grievous sorrow; to all it is a personal loss. And yet there is in this grief 
only pride that in a long, laborious, and illustrious public service there is 
no weakness, not one day for which any one need apologize, nor one acl 
which requires explanation. 

Such a public life is full of inspiration to those who are called to dis- 
charge public duties, and is an exemplar after which young men may 
model themselves. 

It is therefore resolved that this minute be entered upon the records of 
the committee; that the chairman be requested to transmit a copy of it to 
the wife of our friend, to whom he will express our sympathy in that 
sorrow which no human affection can assuage. 



Address of Mr. Forney, of Alabama. 

Mr. Speaker: My acquaintance with Mr. Randall begau 
with my entrance into the Forty-fourth Congress. Prom 
that time until his death our relations were both pleasanf and 
friendly. I was associated with him for seven years upon 
the same committee. To-day I desire, with others, to unite 
in paying my humble tribute of respeel to his memory. 

In expressing my sorrow at his death 1 know I am speak- 
ing the sentiments of the people of my State, for Alabama 
held him in high esteem, admired him for his many virtues 
and sterling qualities, and loved him for the services he had 
rendered her people. 

During the greal struggle in theHouseof Representatives, 
denominated by some as " the battle of Liberty againsi des- 



28 Address of Mr. Forney, of Alabama, on the 

potism," the parliamentary tactics, indomitable pluck, and 
heroic endurance of Mr. Randall shone with unparalleled 
resplendence. To these great characteristics of the lamented 
statesman the whole country is indebted for the defeat and 
overthrow of a policy which Avould have wrought incalcu- 
lable injury to the best interests of the entire country; for 
these grand efforts in behalf of just and humane legislation 
the South owes him a lasting debt of gratitude, and so long 
as a love of justice shall animate the Southern heart the 
memory of Mr. Randall will be cherished by her gallant 
and noble people. 

Hon. Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania, his colleague, as well 
as others, have truly and fittingly spoken of Mr. Randall's 
services to his State, his loyal devotion as a husband, his 
loving kindness as a father, and the sweet domestic happi- 
ness which ever reigned in the home circle. I come to speak 
of him as I knew him in this Hall and in the" committee 
room. 

During the fall campaign of 1874 a political cyclone swept 
over our country which gave to the Democracy a majority 
in the House of Representatives. The key-notes of that 
campaign were the extravagances of the Republican party, 
' ' retrenchment and reform ! " Mr. Kerr was elected Speaker 
of the House of Representatives, and he made Mr. Randall 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee— the money com- 
mittee of the House. 

A great work was before him; a herculean task had to be 
performed. Expenditures must be reduced. Mr. Randall's 
long service in Congress made him familiar with the details 
of the Government. No one was more familiar with the 
previous legislation of our country, its history, its resources, 
and the needs of the people. He was well equipped for the 
discharge of the duties assigned him. He had able and ex- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 29 

perienced associates upon the committee. The work of " re- 
trenchment and reform" commenced. He soon became 
master of the situation. When the work was finished the re- 
sult of the labors of his committee, as well as I now remem- 
ber, showed a reduction of $30,000,000 in the expenditures of 
the Government. The policies in respect of retrenchment 
and reform inaugurated by his committee have been the con- 
trolling policies of his party since 1876, and which were so 
wise and eminently proper that the opposition, in the main, 
have followed them. By the work of Mr. Randall and his 
associates the people of the United States have been saved 
the expenditure of many millions of dollars. 

Upon the death of Mr. Kerr, Mr. Randall was elected 
Speaker of the House, and was re-elected in the Forty-fifth 
and Forty-sixth Congresses. As Speaker of the House he 
was a model presiding officer, equal to every emergency, 
quick and ready, firm and resolute, yet always courteous. 
He was the peer of any of the great men who had preceded 
him; and the record made by him as Speaker of the House 
of Representatives will compare favorably with the records 
of the most illustrious men who have filled that exalted 
position since the organization of the Government. 

As a legislator he had few equals and no superiors. The 
impress of his great mind is stamped upon the statutes 
enacted during his Congressional life. He was a man of 
sterling integrity and above reproach. He lived through 
the days of jobbery and corruption; he came out with gar- 
ments pure and spotless. He was the enemy t«> all corrup 
schemes, and was opposed to all raids upon the Treasury. 
The lobbyists disliked and dreaded him. They knew he 
stood for his country and his country's good. 

Mr. Randall has been called a born leader of men; and 
why? He possessed all those greal qualities which goto 



f 









30 .Address of Mr. Forney, of Alabama, on the 

make tip a leader. He had an iron will. He had nerve and 
^Mirage. He hated intrigue, despised all shams. He was 
open, frank, honest, and manly to his opponents. He wore 
no mask. His panoply was the justness of his cause. He 
had convictions, and he was always loyal to his convictions. 
One of the highest evidences of his loyalty to his convic- 
tions was that lie never yielded one jot or tittle from his 
convictions upon the great tariff question, when he knew 
with reasonable certainty that by his yielding and falling 
into line with his party upon that question he could have 
reached the highest position in the gift of the American 
people 

Upon all questions save that of the tariff, in which he 
ditfered with a majority of his party, he was the acknowl- 
edged leader of the Democratic side of the House up to his 
death. During parliamentary battles all eyes turned to 
him to lead the Democratic forces. When the battle raged 
the highest, in the hottest of the fight, he was cool and 
deliberate and never for a moment lost his balance. In the 
midst of confusion one blast from his bugle would rally his 
forces, and the "two wings flapped together." 

As a debater there were men who had a more ready flow 
of language, who were more gifted as orators, but none sur- 
passed him in making his points clear. If eloquence con- 
sists in carrying one's point, in convincing one's hearers, 
Mr. Randall was an eloquent man. He never indulged in 
flowery language or rhetoric, but he came down with sledge- 
hammer blows which his adversary could neither resist nor 
ward off. 

Mr. Speaker, Samuel Jackson Randall, one of the 
greatest statesmen and purest patriots of his age. has passed 
over the river. Death has taken him from amon gst us. He 
will be missed, not alone by the city of Philadelphia, his 



Life and diameter of Samuel J. Randall. 31 

home and birthplace; nol alone by the great State of Penn- 
sylvania, which lie for twenty-seven years so ably and 
faithfully represented ; but he will be missed here, in this 
Hall, by his party and by the peogple of our entire country. 
It is a pleasing reflection. Mr. Speaker, in our sorrow for 
his loss, to know that our friend and colleague has gone to 
a purer, brighter, and better world. His minister, Rev. Dr. 
Chester, told* us in his eloquent sermon at the funeral of Mr. 
Randall that he " had administered to him the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper." He told us that Mr. Randall " had 
passed through weeks of great pain, but bore his sufferings 
with a beautiful Christian patience." He told us that 
" when the summons at last came, on the Sabbath, just as 
the morning broke, just as the bells in a neighboring church 
were calling its worshipers, it found Mr. Randall prepared, 
for his soul was washed in that blood which cleanseth from 
all sin. which can ill a child of earth for an abundant en- 
trance into heaven." 

May we ail be prepared to join our colleague when, like 
him, we are called to pass over the river. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BUTTERWORTH, OF OHIO. 

Mr. Speaker: Of the youth and early manhood of Samuel 
J. Randall I know nothing, excepl as they were reflected 
in the character and bearing of the matured man. When I 
first saw him he was occupying the Speaker's chair, presid- 
ing over the deliberations of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives. His appearance was striking, and you at once 
pointed to him as a man of mark. 

Samuel J. Randall was a man of mark. The qualities 
that made him cons actions among his fellows were not ac- 
quired, they were innate: they were God-given. 



32 Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio, on the 

As I reflect upon his, as it seems to me, untimely death, 
and the loss his people have sustained, there comes to my 
mind the words of David, when he learned of the death of 
Abner: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great 
man fallen this day in Israel?" 

Samuel J. Randall was a prince among his people. He 
held his title not by word or touch of royalty — he was a 
" prince by virtue of an earlier creation and the imposition 
of a mightier hand/' 

It is seldom given to a man to leave upon the times in 
which he lives the palpable impress of his genius. 

There are many who, pursuing the noiseless tenor of their 
way, do yet perform a mighty work in the interest of the 
State, and more especially of the neighborhood in which 
they reside. But Mr. Randall's field was larger than 
the neighborhood where he abode; it was broader than 
the State that claimed him for her son; it was as wide 
as the nation. 

His entrance upon the stage of public life was not such 
as to attract attention, but was quiet and without display. 
There was nothing meteoric about his movements. His 
election to Congress was not the result of great brilliancy of 
intellect, nor yet of dash in any forum, neither in the battle- 
field where he strove, nor yet in the council where he was 
wise and persuasive, but it resulted from a recognition by his 
fellow-men of the sterling qualities which gave him promi- 
nence here upon this floor. 

He was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. He was 
a Puritan — I speak of a character, a type, rather than one 
of the class of persons who bore that name. He had the 
characteristics that have marked the Puritan everywhere 
upon the earth. 

He possessed an indomitable will and inflexible purpose, 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 33 

and when once lie had decided what duty required of him, 
he moved forward to the discharge of its requirements, and 
there was no change or shadow of turning until his work 

was done. 

Duty was to him a word of imperial command. He would 
have been useful to Cromwell. He would have sat with seren- 
ity as a member of the court that sent Charles to the block, 
and I believe he would, with the same intrepidity that 
marked the Roman Regulus, have returned to Carthage to 
be tortured rather than advise the Romans to a cessation of 
hostilities or to make peace with the Carthagenians. He was 
a leader, not by the accident of choice, but by virtue of a 
commission that men might disregard but could not revoke. 
Leaders are rarely needed. They are for great occasions and 
times of public peril, not for the dull current of common 
events. Thirsites was never silent in the councils of the 

Greeks. Ulysses seldom spoke. 

In politics Randall was a Democrat ; largely, I have al- 
ways thought, on account of the value of the political trade- 
mark under which they did business— the name democrat. 

Apart from its partisan aspect there is a charm in its sug- 
gestiveness. The name " democracy " is worth to the party 
that bears it a million of votes in this country without re- 
gard to what is advocated or what is opposed by the party. 

It is known that while Randall stood one of the foremosl 
and most influential in the ranks of Democrats, he neverthe- 
less advocated many of the cardinal principles of Republic- 
anism. 

He was an earnest protectionist, By that 1 mean he be- 
lieved that the best interests of his countryand his country- 
men required that they should have at least, and possibly 
something more than, an equal opportunity with the citizens 
of other nations in every field of industrial endeavor. 
H. Mis. 265 3 



;!4 . iddress of Mr. Butterwortk, of Ohio, on the 

He did not believe in a system of what lias been termed 
■• reciprocal brigandage.** born of an abuse which would 
supplant inequalities in opportunities between citizens of 
the United States and those of other nations by similar 
though mi >re hurtful inequalities between our own people. 
The former Mr. Randall deemed a disadvantage, the latter 
;i national calamity. 

He had confidence in the future of this Republic, an 
abiding faith in the saving common sense of the American 
people. 

He believed, first, that they desired to be right, that they 
desired to be just, and that if left to themselves, in the 
presence of conditions which afforded opportunities for an 
intelligent understanding of public questions, they would 
work out the salvation of the Republic without civil strife, 
without revolution. 

It is quite possible that he did not give sufficient considera- 
tion to the dynamitic element which has been introduced 
from all nations of the earth, and the baneful influence that 
element has exerted upon the American character. But is 
it to be wondered at, since ordinarily there is more concern 
felt to achieve present political success than there is to pre- 
serve our institutions free from influences potent, though 
obscure, which tend to civil discord and revolution? Who 
can guide the ship and yet stand on the shore ? 

Mr. Randall's life-work is done. 

It is difficult to rightly estimate the influence of such a 
character. He was not an orator, he was not a man of high 
scholastic attainments, yet he was none the less a profound 
practical philosopher. Few grasped as he did the logic of 
events. It may be justly said of him that in a human sense 
he saw the end from the beginning. His strong points were 
a wealth of saving common sense, an incorruptible honesty, 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 35 

steadfastness in honorable purpose, and untiring industry, 
all supplemented by the highest order of moral and physical 
courage. 

He was thoroughly devoted to his family. No man felt a 
livelier interest in the purity and well-being of the home 
circle. He was not, I believe, until a few months prior to 
his death, an open professor of any religious faith although 
he kept the commandments, which is evidence of a perfect 
faith. 

Less, I think, to bring peace to his own mind than to set 
a worthy example, he connected himself with the church, 
realizing and testifying by his example and by the testimony 
he bore that it was well for us to associate ourselves together 
as Christians and to meet together for the purposes of wor- 
ship. 

To my mind, at least, the fact that Samuel J. Randall, 
openly, earnestly embraced the Christian faith ought to go 
far to confirm the wavering and remove the doubts of those 
who are hesitating, for he was a strong man, and no fear of 
death moved him, no terror that the grave could present 
operated upon his mind, but his profession was the result of 
a clear and full conviction that there is a life beyond the 
grave, and that that life might be in some measure, greater 
or less, fashioned by the thoughts and acts of mortals while 
on this side. 

We niiss him, the country will miss him, and it will be 
long before his State will find li is fellow. She may have 
sons more brilliant, whose bearing will attract the public 
notice more quickly, but she has no son who loved her with 
a devotion less selfish, or who will serve her with more cour- 
age and constancy. 



36 Address of Mr. Vaux, of Pennsylvania, on tJie 



ADDRESS OF MR, VAUX OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr. Speaker: Elected for the unexpired term of Samuel 
J. Randall in the Fifty-first Congress, occasioned by his 
death last April, it is fitting that I should pay my personal 
tribute to his character and memory. His distinguished 
colleagues who have served with him so long in Congress 
can the better discuss his official life and his eminent public 
services. We have already heard from them the most inter- 
esting delineation of his career. 

I knew Mr. Randall after he reached manhood, and we 
were associates, more or less, for many years. In his early 
manhood he seemed to be destined to commercial pursuits. 
He did not, however, evince any partiality for that voca- 
tion. He was restive under the restraint of the conventional 
rules which then regulated business enterprises. There 
were allurements in the energies that surrounded political 
organisations. These attracted him. If he studied law, he 
never, I think, undertook the discharge of the duties of the 
profession or entered a professional career. He was at- 
tracted to political life by its harmony with his temperament. 
It is a remarkable fact that legislation was most congenial 
to his tastes. He was circumscribed in his public service to 
the legislative branches of government. 

His first introduction into politics was as a member of the 
municipal government of the city of Philadelphia, in which 
we both were born. ' He served four years in that body. It 
was a labor most especially of detail which he was thus 
forced to undertake. This he learned in lus earliest experi- 
ence. Then he was elected to the State senate of Pennsyl- 
vania and served two sessions in that body. This was an 






Life and Character of Samuel J. Ran da II. \\1 

enlarged sphere for his experience acquired in the municipal 
government. A short time after this he was elected to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, and to this body he was consecu- 
tively reelected until the Fifty-first, a quarter of a century 
of continuous service. It is not now to be considered 
whether exclusive devotion for a long time to legislation is 
the best school to eliminate the highest qualities of a states- 
man. 

Mr. Randall never served in any administrative or ju- 
dicial station. He was not a great student nor a profound 
thinker. His practical common sense was his guide on and 
in all public questions. His marked characteristic was the 
mastery of details. He investigated and analyzed the prac- 
tical elements in all public questions. He was a leader by the 
force of his personal power for high purpose. In him the 
sense of public duty was the basis of his public actions'. His 
reputation stands on the pedestal of earnest convictions of 
right, which he followed. In the performance of his part in 
Congress this power was most conspicuous. Rarely did he 
discuss great principles. He always exhausted the facts and 
figures in all economic legislative measures. He was a great 
master of this most important branch of Congressional work. 
He became preeminent as an authority on all fiscal measures. 
He impressed his colleagues by his familiarity with the 
practical details of the questions proposed. He was by Con- 
gress elected its Speaker. He led the House by his clear 
statements on taxation and appropriation bills, and fully 
expressed and explained the purpose and effect of such 
measures. ' In the chair he gained his highest honors. The 
people of the United States were as familiar with Randall 
as the Speaker as they were with him as a member of tin- 
House. The character of his mind as J have sketched it 
will be developed and illustrated in his speech delivered on 



38 Address of Mr. Vaux, of Pennsylvania, on the 

tlir 27th of .March, 1 876, "On the substitution of silver coin 
tor fractional currency." 

I cite this only to substantiate the views I have expressed. 
It is a speech which shows Mr. Randall's line of thought, 
his command of detail, and his intellectual power. Mr. 
Randall's high rank and great fame were due to his zeal. 
energy, will power, courage, and determination. If he had 
taken up the profession of arms and entered military life 
he would have been a great commander. His capabilities 
would have been there manifested. He had the power to 
dominate and lead men, and his will was wonderful. His 
personal and political integrity were beyond the reach of 
suspicion. Schemes, jobs, covert efforts to secure public 
plunder by legislation, were neither countenanced nor en- 
couraged. He was the enemy of the lobbyist. It is some- 
what significant that these characteristics were so rare as to 
be the glory of his life, but so it was. The people honored 
these virtues and honored him. His integrity was one of 
the powers that gave him his influence. He never faltered, 
never hesitated in the course he had marked out. Those of 
his party who could not agree with him, and there were a 
large majority, bowed before his universally admitted stain- 
less honesty. That was the brilliant jewel in the coronet of 
his fame. 

The cornerstone begins the foundation; so the capstone 
marks the completion of the material edifice. The consen- 
sus of virtuous minds is formulated in the axiom that is the 
concretion of the lesson of human lives. When the days of 
the years of Mr. Randall's life were coming to a close, sur- 
rounded by his family, whose devotion soothed as it had ever 
sustained him, he united himself with the Christian church. 
This consensus of virtuous minds in this axiom to which I 
have referred is found in the words finis coronat opus. Con- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 39 

fessing God the Almighty and Eternal Father, and his only 
Son our Holy and Blessed Redeemer, it came to pass that 
the life-work of Mr. Randall was crowned as he entered 
into eternity. Finis coronal opus. 



Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin. 

Mr. Speaker: It requires no exaggeration to pay a high 
tribute to the life and character of Samuel J. Randall. 

The truth, simply and plainly spoken, will best serve my 
purpose in the part which I shall take on this occasion. 

It was to my advantage to be with him many years upon 
the floor of this House. Here I learned to know him and 
appreciate his great services to the country. It is a pleasure 
for me to add a few words to what has already been said 
concerning his public life, and to that alone shall I direct 
my attention. 

Mr. Randall was a plain, unassuming man, but his work 
was most effectual. He dealt in facts, ami was always 
armed with reasons to justify his acts. He was not in any 
sense demonstrative. He accomplished most by a steady 
progress in his work, taking no steps backward. 

For many years he was a member of this House while his 
party was in the minority. Bui he stood firmly, wrestling 
against odds, yielding nothing. Overandover he submitted 
to defeat, only to rally and try again. He not only led Ids 
party at this time, but he commanded the entire respect of 
the opposition. Whether he was righl at all times, or 
whether he was wrong on some occasions, no man could 
question his sincerity or the honesty of his purpose. He 
seemed moved solely by a sense of duty. In is;:., when his 



40 Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin, on the 

party came into power in the House of Representatives, he 
took high rank at once as a leader upon the floor. This he 
did not only in carrying out his policy, but also in the work 
of providing means for defraying the expenses of the Gov- 
ernment. 

The Administration in all the Departments was still op- 
posed to him, but as chairman of the Committee on Appro- 
pii.it ions he held his hand firmly upon the door of the Treas- 
ury, and to a great extent he dictated the entire expenses of 
the Government. No man inthe United States at that time, 
unless it were the President himself, held a stronger posi- 
tion than did Mr. Randall. He could absolutely fix the 
amount of all the appropriation bills, on which the whole 
machinery of the Government depended. He could say, 
'•This you can have, and no more." In the first year of his 
services as chairman of this committee he made large reduc- 
tions in the expenses. He revised the entire civil force, ap- 
plying the pruning-knife conscientiously,- if not wisely, 
with a view of reforming the service, reducing expenses, 
and consequently the burdens of the people. 

Still later on, in 1877, when Speaker of the House, he ren- 
dered the country a service which alone was sufficient to 
place him high on the plane of statesmanship. That occa- 
sion will never be forgotten by his contemporaries upon this 
fiooi-. uor will it be forgotten by the American people, who 
love their country better than their party. 

In the history of our Government we have never been 
without a President for any period, however short. If the 
electoral count had not been completed that year, so as 
to determine who was choseu President before the close of 
the session on March 4. no method could have been devised 
by which the result could he determined, and for a time at 
least we would have been wit li out a President of the United 



Life and ( *haracter of Samuel J. Randall. 41 

States, and the succession would have been involved in the 
greatest of doubt. 

The last hours of the session were rapidly approaching. 
The count was incomplete. 

Dilatory proceedings could easily have consumed the re- 
maining time to the close, leaving the result of the election 
of 1876 undetermined. A completion of the count was cer- 
tain defeat for Mr. Randall's party. Revolutionary means 
alone could install in office the man he believed to be elected. 
But Mr. Randall preferred the defeat of his party to the 
jeopardy in which the country would be involved. If Con- 
gress had adjourned without declaring the result, no one 
could have predicted the consequences. 

Rising above party, above the rules and parliamentary 
law which had always governed the House, he planted him- 
self upon the constitutional mandate that the electoral vote 
should be counted, and he held the House should not ad- 
journ or transact other business until this high duty should 
be performed. And it was performed. In this bold but 
justifiable act on his part, as Speaker of the House, history 
will write his name along with the fathers and defenders 
of the Republic. His far-seeing eye ran over the future 
and he believed in the ultimate triumph of truth and 
justice. 

If wrong should intervene in counting the vote, he knew 
the people at the first opportunity would make the correc- 
tion. He thought it far better thai lie and his associ 
should meet with defeat than that this Government of the 
people should be suspended, or thai we should be arrayed in 
hostile attitude toward each other over t lie Executive Depart- 
ment of the Government. He was willing to sacrifice his 
personal preferences for the good of the whole country. 

During the last years of our lamented friend he was shorn 



42 Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin, on the 

to some extent of liis leadership in the party to which he 
belonged. Many will say and believe he was greater than 
Ms party. Certainly his transition from the place he had 
held as leader so long was not due to a want of ability, or 
integrity, or in generalship, so much needed at the head of 
a great party embracing 30,000,000 of people, but simply 
and solely for the reason that his associates differed with 
him in the protection policy, which he so sincerely believed 
to be necessary for the good of the country. 

In the stand he took for the protection of American in- 
dustries no one can doubt his sincerity. He was reared in 
the school of protection, and he was executing the will of a 
most patriotic constituency. He faltered not, but remained 
faithful to his trust to the close, and a grateful people will 
revere and respect his memory for his patriotism and lidel- 
ity. Strange as it may seem, the succeeding triumph of the 
party to which he did not belong was his own vindication 
and restoration to leadership. 

While Speaker of the House he was a great believer in 
the constitutional rights of each individual member, and no 
one, however strong, was permitted to usurp or trample 
upon the rights of any other member. He believed in the 
equality of representation, and that the constituency of each 
member had a right to be heard in the House of Representa- 
tives. 

This was a distinguishing feature of his administration 
as Speaker. Few, if any, of his predecessors excelled him 
in fairness. His official service was marked with a personal 
kindness that brought sincere regret, shared in by all. when 
the hour of separation came at the close of the sessions. 

But the useful career of this great man has passed into 
history. He has gone from us to return no more. We 
shall no longer hear that voice, so familiar to us here in the 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 43 

House. The messenger of death has stifled it forever. But 
he has spoken volumes for us and left a record here full of 
examples and instructions to guide us in our deliberations. 
He has passed from this arena, where he earned his great 
name and fame in the cause of his country, to that better 
shore where truth and goodness reign supreme. 



Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia. 

Mr. Speaker: This occasion awakens the memories of the 
past seventeen years in connection with the most important 
and stirring events of that period. The figure, the act inn. 
and utterances of Samuel J. Randall assume that distinct- 
ness and nobility which proclaim him a leader of men in the 
public affairs of his time. 

It is not my purpose to review his life from its commence- 
ment, but rather from the period when I first knew him < >n 
the floor of this House until his end came. Indeed, this task 
is more than I can consummate, for it would exact not only 
the history of all the stirring scenes which by reason of the 
incidental excitements commanded public attention, but of 
a large part of national legislation, requiring patient and 
laborious study of the very highest importance to the coun- 
try, and yet repelling the ordinary mind by the long-sus- 
tained effort to comprehend fully its scope and results to his 
countrymen. 

Coming myself to the Forty-third Congress, he tirst at- 
tracted my attention by the intense interest which he mani- 
fested in debate on all questions which involved public ex- 
penditures. At the head of the Committee on Appropriations 
was Hon. James A. Garfield, afterwards President o\' the 
United States. His comprehensive analyi ica] mind wasdom- 



44 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on the 

mating its work. Eyeing all of it with shrewdness, sagacity, 
and unswerving toil and courage stood as the leading oppo- 
nent of the majority Samuel J. Randall. The election of 
a Democratic House brought him to the head of the Com- 
mittee on Appropriations. I was placed on that committee 
with him. To this I refer only because it gave me a rare 
point of observation of his qualities. He saw and seized the 
opportunity of a most marvelous reduction of public expend- 
itures. The Senate of the United States was Republican 
and opposed to his purpose. 

The President of the United States was not only a Repub- 
lican, but sustained by the devotion which sprang from the 
fact that he was peerless amongst the great soldiers who led 
the armies of the Union in the recent civil war. Under his 
counsel and guidance the appropriations contained in the 
various bills made a reduction of $40,000,000. Immediately 
the fires of the opposition in the House, Senate, Administra- 
tion circles, and the press were kindled. All the resources 
of political warfare were turned upon him and his measures. 
Taking advantage of the financial crisis then upon the coun- 
try he pursued them in debate in the House with a courage, 
zeal, patriotism, and richness of information which rallied 
his friends about him with a confidence and enthusiasm 
never excelled by any man, living or dead. 

The Senate rejected his reforms and disparaged them 
with the most labored and vehement criticism ; the con- 
ferees- met, hotly debated differences, and returned to 
their Houses reporting disagreements in language born 
of intense and bitter strife. Most of the session of 1875-76, 
which ended on the 15th of August, 1876, is filled up with a 
struggle for reduction of expenditures. The Senate finally 
yielded a reduction of -$30,000,000. On this struggle rested 
the Democratic campaign of 1876. Mr. Randall had con- 



t 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 45 

ceived and consummated the magnificent record on which 
his party claimed the confidence of the American people. 
The occasion forbids that I should enter fully into a discus- 
sion of the scenes in the two Houses of Congress, the Elec- 
toral Commission proceedings, the general alarm in all sec- 
tions and all parties for fear of an interregnum in the Presi- 
dential office, and the possible dangers from irregular and 
unconstitutional measures which might be invited. 

The elections of 1874 returned an overwhelming majority 
for the Democratic party in the House of Representatives 
for the Forty-fourth Congress. The second session of the 
Forty-third Congress assembled in the following December 
with the House of Representatives nearly two-thirds Repub- 
lican. The civil rights and force bills were brought up for 
action. It was believed by Southern members that they 
were designed to create disorder and race troubles in the 
South. Despondency and irritation each afflicted her people. 
With a great Government hostile to their peace, their civil- 
ization, thier hopes, as was manifested in the proposed legis- 
lation, there seemed to be utter darkness all about them. 
And yet there was found a way of escape. 

A leader of the minority, skilled in parliamentary tactics, 
grounded in constitutional principles, brave in every emer- 
gency, burst upon the scene. From the rules of the House 
he extracted a system of dilatory motions, which for three 
nights and two and one-half days, without intermission, 
staid all action. During the time he had never slept, and 
ate at his desk. His manly frame yielded not to fatigue ; his 
clear-sightedness never for an instant mistook the situation; 
his firm resolve and flashing eye animated with faith and en- 
thusiasm his followers. At the end of this struggle it was 
seen that the session was too near to an end for the force 
bill to pass; it was believed the Democrats in the Senate 









46 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on the 

could consume time and prevent the passage of the civil 
rights bill and that further tax of physical strength was not 
oeeded in the House. The force bill never became a law, 
the civil rights was declared unci institutional by the Supreme 
Court, the sky brightened in the Southern land, and hence- 
forward the name of Samuel J. Randall was revered and 
Loved at her every hearthstone. 

This struggle, and that for reduction of public expendi- 
tures, to which I have referred, placed him in the group of 
great Americans. The death of Mr. Kerr. Speaker of the 
House of Representatives in the Forty-fourth Congress, 
during the summer of L876, vacated this high place. To 
fill the vacancy was an easy task. It was assigned, naturally, 
justly, enthusiastically, to Mr. Randall. He was after- 
wards twice elected to the same office. His administration 
was marked by economy in expenditures and aggressive 
purity on all questions. My memory is full of interesting 
incidents in his career in tiiis office, but 1 must not pause to 
utter them here. I shall be permitted to speak freely of one. 

It will be remembered that in the Presidential election of 
1876, on the face of tlie returns. Mr. Hayes received 185 votes 
and Mr. Tilden L84 votes. It was alleged that the returns 
in Louisiana were false and fraudulent; that the certificate 
to the Florida vote should have been given to the Tilden 
electors; that in South Carolina, by the use of troops and 
deputy marshals, the people were overawed and a fair elec- 
tion was defeated. Exceptions were taken to the certificates 
from Oregon, and it was alleged that the electoral vote of 
that State should have been given to Mr. Tilden. 

Time will not permit nor is it deemed necessary to state 
with more elaboration the objections against counting the 
votes of these States for Mr. Hayes and the reasons for 
giving them to the Tilden electors. They were attended 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 47 

with circumstances so significant as to create a profound 
fear of civil war. This led to the passage of the Electoral 
Commission act. To the commission was submitted all the 
questions in dispute. Provision was made against dilatory 
proceedings in the two Houses of Congress in joint or sepa- 
rate sessions. Thus it seemed a peaceful solution was as- 
sured. The« case of Florida was decided in favor of Mr. 
Hayes. The same conclusion was reached as to Oregon. 

A like result was reached in the case of South Carolina. 
At this stage, March 1. 1877, a majority of the Democrats 
of 4he House, under the belief that the decisions of the 
commission were erroneous and founded on partisan feeling, 
and that bad faith obtained, desired to stay the proceedings. 
If this were consummated the 4th of March would come 
and no provision have been made for President. An inter- 
regnum in the office would have occurred. Expedients based 
on necessity and unsupported by law might have been 
resorted to by both parties. Law and order were threatened 
throughout the land. Dilatory motions were made in the 
House and supported by the great body of Democratic Rei>- 
resentatives. If successful, anarchy was threatened. 

All depended on the lofty patriotism and heroism of the 
Speaker, Hon. Samuel J. Randall. Obeying the law, he 
refused to entertain the motions. He left his party friends 
because duty dictated it. It were better to say that they 
were driven by passion from law, while he, lifting himself 
above the storm, saw in that great arbitration the safety of 
our institutions and the harmony of his countrymen. A 
study of the details of this Presidential election, of the varied 
and violent agitations of the popular heart, the vast dangers 
apprehended by the best men of all parties, and its peaceful 
solution, form a grand setting for him who rose as high as 
this great emergency. 






48 Address of Mr. Blount, of Georgia, on the 

Mr. Speaker, for fourteen years of his public career I had 
such relations with Mr. Randall as to enable me to say I 
knew him well. His time was devoted to his public work. 
He was a severe and constant student. This, long contin- 
ued, enriched him in knowledge. 1 would not call him 
learned. The greatest judges, soldiers, and statesmen have 
rarely been preeminent here. I would not oall him the 
most artistic debater. Not that he might not have excelled 
in this. His earnest heart and quick, sagacious mind seized 
truth and scorned the slower methods of the logician, which 
stood between it and action. I would not call him an orat« >r. 
His modest, simple nature turned him away from all the 
ornaments of language and the art of arousing and directing 
the hearts of men. 

He was courageous. No man excelled him in his physical 
or moral courage. He was an honest man. The giver of 
bribes shrank from his presence; the flatterer bound him not 
with silken cords; the paths of friendship only paralleled his 
duty to his country. Armed with knowledge, earnest, clear, 
direct enunciation of thought, commanding physique, lofty 
traits of character, he was easily the leaderof associates who 
followed with a faith and enthusiasm such as I have never 
known any man to enjoy in all my experience. 

The law of change is written in the early forms of vegeta- 
ble and animal life, whose cha ra < -t ers s< • i enee busily deciphers. 
The drifts and sands of time give up to human endeavor the 
arts, manners, forms of government and religion of dynasties 
once hid from human remembrance. The historic period 
emerges. Over this wide field myriads of busy men have act i m 1 
their noble or ignoble parts. The muses have charmed; 
philosophers have instructed; the warrior has conquered; the 
-t.itesman has debated and diplomatized; the masses have 
trod the humble ways of human life, and over all an unseen 



Life and Charade) of Samuel J. Randall. 49 

power, never changing, is ever changing all 1 bings. It is not 
palpable to sight or touch, and yet it is about me. It lias 
taken from me my friend, from my country a patriot states- 
man, from a noble wife the unsullied affection, sympathy, 
and counsel of a model husband. 

Samuel J. Randall lias passed from life, and history 
will preserve his character and career as a treasure for her 
students. When last I saw him he was emaciated, blood- 
less, pulseless, dead. The awful mystery seized upon my 
imagination and consciousness. The warrior's form was 
there, but where was his animating soul? The dim lights 
of man's highest philosophy disclose its immortality. The 
teachings of nature point to the same truth. The divine 
revelation proclaims that if a man die he shall live again. 
A higher charmed life rises out of our scenes of sorrow and 
soars to nobler labor and joy. We stand on the shore of 
time eagerly struggling for some glimpse of our friend in 
the unknown land. 'Tis vain. We can only say in our 
sadness, Farewell! 



ADDRESS OF MR. McCOMAS, OF MARYLAND. 

Mr. Speaker: This House to-day mourns its greatest par- 
liamentary leader, Samuel J. Randall, during half of his 
lifetime a member, the titular " Father of the House.'" and 
thrice the Speaker of the House. 

A century of Congress shows thai a mere rhetorician may 
flash and fade' here. A -'olden tongue may put a passing 
spell on members and galleries, hut even tumultuous ap- 
plause dies away. The rare gift of eloquence, when its 
voice is stilled, lingers here only as a half-extinct tradition. 

It is not so with our great Congressional leaders. Long 
H. Mis. 265 4 



50 Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland, on the 

experience and the training given on this floor are the bases 
whereon they build a more lasting fame. 

Samuel J. Randall will rank among the foremost of 
these. 

Modern civilization affords no occupation for great law- 
givers. Every Congress can not rewrite the statutes. The 
wisest and truest Representatives do not aspire to lease a 
law as a Legacy to the people. Ephemeral statutes are soon 
made and soon obsolete. Enduring laws are the work of 
many hands and slowly evolved. 

The office of great loaders like Randall is to steadily 
sway and constantly lead the minds of their fellows within 
this Hail, and public opinion outside. It is hard to cata- 
logue their achievements, hard to trace in outline their 
impress on legislation. If. as was Randall's fortune, a 
long career here he passed ;is a member of the minority, his 
function is to resist, and not initiate. The four years of 
President Cleveland's administration, unhappily, did not 
wholly extricate him fromhis attitude as a minority member 
on industrial questions. 

By nature he was a conservative; forceful, masterful, ag- 
gressive, yei nevertheless a conservative. In that school of 
adversity, the minority, steadily through long service Sam- 
uel J. Randall acquired his marvelous equipment for at- 
tack and defense and gained undoubted leadership on this 
floor. 

Tall athletic, robust, he seemed a man born to command. 
Some faces fade from the memory as a fleck of cloud from 
a morning sky. We who knew him never can forget Ran- 
dall's handsome leonine face, his keen, black eyes, his 
wavy, iron-gray hair, his iron jaw. his smile, or his frown. 
as he in the van of controversy cheered or cheeked his side 
of the House. We hear again his voice penetrating the re- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 51 

cesses of this Hall, witness again his pluck in pressing the 
fight, or his sudden and gracious tact in yielding non-csscn- 
tials when stoutly contested in order to carry through the 
House in triumph a great appropriation hill. 

His keen analysis, his short sentences, his brief speeches, 
often impassioned, always effeel Lve; his compact statements, 
always clear; his intuitive knowledge of the temper of this 
House, wayward and sudden and fitful as it always is. made 
him the leading and controlling spirit in Committee of the 
Whole and the master of debate under the five-minute rule, 
the only real debate in this House. 

He was an intense American. This thorough American- 
ism kept him in touch with this House, a composite of every 
variety of American thought. He thus instinctively fell 
every change of its mood. After he had concluded his Las1 
memorable tariff speech, as he crossed this Hall he exclaimed 
to me, "I am an American, and therefore 1 am a protec- 
tionist." 

It was his Americanism, his love of the Union, that car- 
ried him as a volunteer soldier to the front. What a worthy 
glimpse of American life, to see Private Randall in his 
tent, with a cracker box for a table, writing to the Assistant 
Secretary of War that George H. Thomas oughl to lie made 
a general. 

He was serving his sixth term in Congress when he elec- \7 
trifled his party, seized its leadership, and. by the skill he 

had acquired, defeated the so-called •' force hill." 

His most memorable service to the country as Speaker 
was when he courageously checked and routed the filibus- 
ters by a ruling which led the House to abide by the result 
of the Presidential Electoral Commission and saved I 

Country from a disputed succession to the Presidency. 

Upon the suhject of appropriations, whether as a member 



A 



52 Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland^ on the 

on the floor or as chairman of thai great committee, he 
struggled unceasingly for retrenchment in public expendi- 
ture. 

More than any of our public men, it was Samuel J. Ran- 
dall who taught the country and many administrations 
that the power of appropriation is in Congress, that it is not 
in the Departments, that Congress must closely scrutinize 
estimates of public expenditure approximating s-ioo.ooo.ooo 
annually. For this duty of retrenchment and power of Con- 
gress he waged battle against the Departments, the Bureaus 
of the Army and Navy alike. For this cause he as firmly 
resisted the Democratic administration as lie had always 
fiercely assaulted the Republican administrations. 

After six years' service with Samuel J. Randall on the 
Committee on Appropriations I am convinced that he, dur- 
ing his fourteen terms of service, saved very many millions 
of dollars for the people and ingrafted reforms upon every 
branch of administration. He did not stint appropriations 
to the defenders of the Union, their widows and orphans. 
He was never a blatant, yet always a sincere friend of labor. 

In the secrecy of the committee I often noted his sincere 
sympathy with the great modern movement for shorter hours 
and the amelioration of the condition of the multitude of 
toiling men and women who constitute ours, the greatest 
Republic. He was, in the best sense, democratic. His 
tastes were simple. His daily life was ceaseless toil, lighted 
up l>y the glow of a happy home fireside. 

Throughout his long and distinguished career his reputa- 
tion was unsullied, his integrity stern, unbending, and stain- 
less. SAMUEL J. Randall, the great leader of his party, 
one of the foremost commoners of his age. was above all an 
honest man. With a warm and generous heart, attaching 
friendships beyond party lines, living more than a quarter 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 53 

of a century in the Capital of the nation, he who save] a 
hundred millions to his country was indifferenl to wealth, 
as though he had taken a vow of poverty, and died a poor 
man, having worn out his noble life in his country's service. 



Address of Mr. Dunnell, of Minnesota. 

Mr. Speaker: My words on this occasion will be few. 
To-day we make a halt in the work of legislation thai we 
may in proper form and words do honor to the life and 
character of the late Samuel J. Randall. He was horn in 
the city of Philadelphia, October 10, 1828, and died in the 
city of Washington, April 13, 1890. He entered Congress 
March 4, L863, and remained in continuous service till his 
death. 

A eulogy will be at fault which does not assert that Mr. 
Randall was a man of the severest integrity. Serving here 
during a period when great temptations were offered for a 
departure from the path of public and official uprightness, 
he has left a name which no whisper of wrongdoing has 
evertainted. The allurements to gain touched him not. He 
was true to himself, his oath, his country, and his God. He 
courted poverty rather than wealth. 

Mr. Randall was a man of conviction. His convictions 
controlled him. They gave him purposes and rules of con- 
duel which formed Ids character. That character was early 
discovered by political friends and adversaries. In its pos- 
session he was strong and unshaken amid the temptations 
which beset a man of hi- prominence. The ruggedness of 
his convid ions was seen and always felt, for it w as sustained 
by the boldness and courage for which he was so preSmi- 



54 . Xddress of Mr. Dunnell, of Minnesota^ on the 

uently distinguished. Such a man becomes a leader and in 
Congress leaves his impress upon the legislation of the 
country. 

When Mr. Randall had taken a position lie could be 
driven from ii by nothing less than a sure conviction that he 
was wrong. This firmness on many occasions made him 
grandly useful tothenation. In L876 he gave his adhesion to 
ilir settlement of the Presidential count by an Electoral Com- 
mission. During all the dark hours and days which fol- 
lowed the creation of that commission and the final announce- 
ment. Mr. Randall Avas heroically patriotic. Had he 
wavered, a civil war. then so threateningly imminent, might • 
have befallen the country. 

The following sentences, taken from a leading daily, so 
clearly ami truthfully delineate the characterof our lamented 
friend that I use them here: 

His was a patriotic breadth of character that sectional lines could not 
circumscribe; his influence was far-reaching and his usefulness was 
national. He was a lover of his country and its institutions, and his 
departure from the activities of life leaves a vacancy that will he sin- 
cerely regretted and profoundly felt by the whole people. 

He was a force thai never faltered in the presence of blandishments or 
intimidations— a man whose sympathies were always upon the side of 
the commonalty to which he glorified in belonging. He had no use for 
intrigue or conspiracy, and fraud upon the Government in any form was 
to him the synonym of baseness akin to treason. 

Of such a man it is our wont to say that he can ill he spared; hut he 
had gathered abundant sheaves and God called him. in His own good 
time, to rest. 

Ife was thoroughly a man of the people. He knew their wants and 
had their ways; and it was upon the floor of the House, as a tribune of 
the people, thai he most distinguished himself by his readiness in debate, 
his alertness of action and fruitfulness of resource, his wonderful self- 
command, and the masterly skill with which he led his forces in and out 
the attack. 

Wherefore did the whole country mourn at the death of 
Mr. Randall? It was because a great leader of conspicu- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 55 

ous public and private virtues had gone; because a man of 
stern integrity bad ceased to bold bis place in the councils of 
the nation. Such a man is loved, for be can be trusted; for 
such a man the sweetest praise is sung; at the grave of such 
a man the purest tears are shed. 

My acquaintance with Mr. Randall began with the open- 
ing of the Forty-second Congress. In the Forty-seventh, 
I had the honor to be with him a member of the Committee > 
of Ways and Means. It was during our service on this com- 
mittee that I discovered his habits of mind, bis industry, his 
thoroughness, and his methods of investigation. He de- 
clared his purpose to make an exhaustive study of all the 
questions coming to that committee. He began and con- 
tinued his studies with remarkable zeal. 

Though he bad then been a member of the House for eight- 
een years and Speaker more than four, yet be brought with "-4- 
him a primer giving the language and technical terms of 
words found in revenue enactments, announcing his purpose 
to make himself familiar with the very elements. It was 
during that Congress that I learned to honor him. 

Some of us will remember the manly strength and beauty 
that were his. It did not seem possible that be would in 
so few years be found grappling with a disease which 
should bring him to the end of life. 

Death plans his own campaigns. He holds council with 
none of his victims. They are wholly at his mercy. To 
the many lie gives no warning, while to some he allows his 
approach to be seen. To these if is often a favor, though 
not meant to be so. To our friend, whom we mourn to-day, 
death was in sigh! for many months. He bad no fear. for. 
indeed, he hoped for returning health and other yen-sin 
the service of the country. He had no fear, for he had given 
a cheerful submission to Heaven's way of escape in death. 



i 



56 Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the 

from the sufferings of a mortal state to the felicities of a 

heavenly. At the funeral service his pastor said of him: 

Be passed through weeks of the severest bodily pain, he fought nobly, 
courageously, hopefully, the battle with disease, yet he bore his suffer- 
ings with a beautiful < 'hristian patience. On a Sabbath, just as the morn- 
ing broke, just as the bells in a neighboring church were calling its 
worshipers, the summons came to him to worship in the heavenly temple, 
to eater the Sabbath of eternal rest. 

The simplicity of the funeral services In the church which 
he had so long attended were touchingly beautiful. It was 
the wish of <>ur friend that no display he made when he 
should be taken to his final resting-place. His wish was 
carefully observed. The common people came to the church 
and sought a last view of their lost friend. Many hundreds 
came. His simple life and his friendly greetings in the 
years past had won their admiration and love. No better 
tribute dbuld I render to the illustrious dead than record 
this tact. An account of the funeral at Philadelphia closes 
as follows : 

The absence of any public demonstration, and the immense gathering 
of people of all walks of life, marks Mr. Randall's funeral as one of the 
notable ones in Philadelphia's history. The flags on all public and many 
private buildings were placed at half-mast, but this was the only out- 
ward sign of sorrow, ii appearing as though everybodj was content to 
express their grief in silence. 

Thus quietly and eloquently the great statesman was laid 
at rest. 



Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas. 

Mr. Speaker: Before I proceed 1 will send to the Clerk's 
desk and have read an extract from a letter written to me by 
ex-Governor Crittenden, of Missouri, who was a warm per- 
sonal and political friend of .Mr. Randall: a Letter written as 
-timonial of affection for his friend. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 



57 



The Clerk read as follows : 

Randall is dead. Truly a greal man has fallen. In brain power there 
were and still are many men in Congress stronger than he, but when aU 
their qualities are considered. I much doubt if his equal has been on that 
floor for many years. You and I were with hnn in the Forty-thud Con- 
gress, when his bold leadership did more to defeat the force bill, with the 
small minority at his Lack, than the work of all others combined He 
never retired from the Hall, seldom from his chair, during that prolonged 
session, and then only to partake of the simple lunch served from Ins own 

'Tfter the famous political contest was over, led on by General Butler 
on the one side and resisted by Randall on the other, I heard Preside n 
Grant say could Randall have led military forces as he did pohtical 
ones his legions would have ben invincible. He was a man of few 
word., hut of many deeds. He had the respect of all men and the confi- 
dence of friend and foe. He never betrayed a man under any circutn- 
stances. He differed from the great leaders of his party on the tariff 
question vet he differed with them as a man of honest convictions, as 
teuly and boldly representing his views and locality as any Representa- 
tive' in Congress. I doubt if he ever intentionally wounded the feelings 
of any honest man. however much he differed from him on any subject. 
He was an ardent friend of the South on three grounds: First its consti- 
tutional right after peace had been declared: second, his friendship for a 
brave people: third, his desire for a rehabilitation of impoverished States 
and people, in justice to themselves and as a means of strengthening the 

* Whilst not an impetuous and belligerent man. Randall condemned 
wrong to a man or a section so strongly that, in the words of Dame 
O'ConneU, he could say, " I am against oppression everywhere and at all 
times, and wherever the oppressor shows his head there I launch my 

bolts." . e 

^though not by any means an orator in the common acceptation ot 
that word, yet he was a speaker of much magnetism to thinking men by 
reason of his strong ideas, compactly presented, commanding the atten- 
tion of his opponents as fixedly as any debater of superior foren lc power. 
He never spoke without having something to say, and saying something 
when he did speak. 

The whole country sustains a greal Loss by his death, hi, party a sate 
leader and wise adviser. No man did more to command the respect oi 
the younger members in age as wdl as service than Sam Randall, tie 
was ever ready to help then, over the troublous ways of parliamentary 
law in suchamodesl wa 3 a, to accomplish the desired effect without 
embarrassing the recipient of his favor. 

Permi1 me to^give you another instance of his kindness ol heart. 
When tour of us were retiring fro,,, ( longressional lit- at the close ot the 



r^ . \ddress of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the 

Forty-fifth Congress— two from the South, one from Indiana, and myself 
from Missouri— lie invited us to take a farewell home dinner with his 
family at his modest home on Capitol Hill. It was an occasion of the 
most genuine, unassumed hospitality, fre< — absolutely free— of all re- 
straint, making each guest feel at once that he was at home with his own 
kith and kin; also making each one think and feel, without tin' least 
tinge of obligation to the distinguished host, then the Speaker of one of 
tin' greatest legislative bodies of the world, that the farewell dinner was 
a special, personal honor, and a sweet souvenir of a closed political life. 

It has so impressed me from that time to this, and I would rather erase 
from my memory all other recollections of Washington than that even- 
ing with Sam Randall. 

As I read of the quiet close of his great life with the sweet word 
" Mother" dwelling in love upon his lifeless lips— the first conceived and 
the last uttered — I with millions of others think it was in full harmony 
with his nature, so simple, so pure, so true to every instinct of elevated 
manhood, closing, as it had hegun, 

•• With the beauty of the moonlight, 
With the beauty of the starlight."' 

The death of Samuel J. Randall marks an epoch in our 
history. For more than a quarter of a century he had been 
a member of this House, and for the greater part of that 
time a conspicuous figure in American politics. He came 
from the camp, where he had performed the duties of a sol- 
dier, and entered the legislative halls of the nation to peuform 
the duties of a statesman. He entered public life at the most 
critical and trying period through which the country had 
ever passed. The apple of discord had been thrown and the 
purple testament of bleeding war was unrolled, and in every 
pari of the laud the people were reading the lessons which 
its crimsoned letters revealed. 

During the continuance of the strife all eyes were fixed 
upon the battalions that were gathering at the bivouac or 
fighting and falling on the ensanguined fields. The labori- 
ous duties of the statesman, however necessary to the popular 
safety, attracted hut little notice from the public eye. The 
light that was soon to be seen high above the horizon and 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 59 

burning with resplendent brightness was not then observed 

through the thick battle-clouds that darkened earth and 
skies. The terrible conflict ended during his second term as 
a member of the House. The insurgent armies were dis- 
banded ; war had "smoothed his wrinkled front." Victors 
and vanquished had returned to their homes, and the tardy 
and difficult work of restoration began. The attention of 
the country was now turned to the national Capitol and 
fixed upon the actors who were engaged on that great 

stage. 

The fierce passions which war had fanned into flame were 
still sweeping like forest fires over the land. The country 
was divided on questions of policy affecting the treatment 
of the conquered people. Some of the ablest of the Repub- 
lican leaders demanded that, their lands should be con- 
fiscated and granted to the victorious soldiers of the Union ; 
that the Confederate leaders should be executed ; that the 
States which it had been asserted could not withdraw from 
the Union were in fact out of it and could only be brought 
back on such terms as Congress should prescribe; that the 
white people should be disfranchised and their emancipated 
slaves enfranchised. 

A wild, reckless, and ungovernable revolutionary spirit 
seized and dominated the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives. Laws were passed which annihilated State govern- 
ments and organized military districts on their ruins. Civil 
government was abrogated, courts were (dosed, military 
commissions were appointed, trial by jury was abolished. 
and the writ of habeas corpus was incarcerated in the same 
military dungeon with the vanquished. The " indestructi- 
ble States" were obliterated and States were reconstructed 
on the foundations where they once stood, with their powers 
derived from the consent of emancipate.! slaves, and the 



GO . Iddress of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the 

corrupt adventurers who had been sent among them to lead 
them were chosen to fill all Government positions. 

Corruption reigned supreme in all the departments of the 
aewly instituted and reconstructed States. Avast monu- 
ment of public indebtedness was raised upon the shoulders 
of a people already prostrated to exhaustion by war. The 
contagion was not confined to the reconstructed States. 
Every branch of the National Government was inoculated 
with the poison. In the midst of this stormy and starless 
night. Sam Randall, as he was known familiarly and called 
1 >v the people, began to rise before their "admiring gaze. He 
was seen to wear "the white flower of a blameless life." At 
such a time a man of his ability could have acquired an am- 
ple fortune, but he chose to live and die poor, and yet was al- 
ways too rich to be bought. By his labor he could support 
his family in comfort, and with that he and they were con- 
tent. Wraith had no spell which it could throw over him, 
nopowerthat could draw his feet the ninth part of a hair 
from the path of Integrity. 

From crown to ton he was an honest man. He was hon- 
est in his thoughts, honest in his words, honest in his feel- 
ings, andhonestin his desires. No man. from the begin- 
ning. »f the Government to the present hour, ever entered 
this Hall or departed from it with a purer conscience than 
Samuel J. Randall. When he surrendered back to his 
constituents the trust they had so long confided to him. and 
when he surrendered back to his Maker the spirit that made 
him a living soul, he could stand at either tribunal and say 
like old Samuel when, after a long tenure, he was surren- 
dering up the government of Israel. " Here 1 am. Witness 
against me. Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I op- 
pressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to 
blind mine eyes therewith ? " 



Life and Character of Samuel j. Randall. 61 

It was not alone his spotless integrity that made him con- 
spicuous at a time when corruption was widespread in all 
departments of government, but it was the lionlike courage 
and the splendid ability with which he espoused and defended 
the cause of the right. Like Moses, he was a born leader 
of men. Like Moses, he loved his own race and kindred 
and he loved the laws and institutions of his people. Like 
Moses, he came to the rescue of his oppressed kinsmen with 
heart nerved and his soul consecrated from the fire of the 
divine presence. Like Moses, he was not fluent in speech; 
he was a man of deeds rather than words. He used but few 
words, which he aimed directly at the subject. There was 
something about him that attracted men to him and riveted 
their confidence in him. That something was what made 
him a leader among men. He had strong character. Every 
one felt its force when he was brought into contact with 
him. He was calm and deliberate in counsel. He was firm 
even to stubbornness in adherence to his opinions. No one 
of his lieutenants nor all of them together could make him 
swerve from his purpose. There was something in his blood, 
his brain, his nerves, and his moral structure that attracted 
like gravitation. 

Without seeming to affect it or even to desire it, he held 
his party to his person, and witli one exception, and only 
one, they followed wherever he led. and followed without a 
question of his ability or the wisdom of the measure he sup- 
ported'. On economic questions he was not in accord with 
his party, and the divergence gave more cause of regret to 
them than if did to him. 1 have often remonstrated with 
him and entreated him to concede something and keep in har- 
mony with his party, who were ready to bestow upon him 
the highest honors within their gift. Again and again I 
have assured him of the st rong hold he had on t he affect ions 



62 Address of Mr. Mills, of Texas, on the 

of our people, and how painful it was to us to see him persist 
in his opposition to all the traditions and teachings of his 
party, and how anxious we were to put him first, above all 
others, as the one bright and illustrious name, the leader of 
the party of Jefferson and Jackson: but entreaties and re- 
monstrances alike were vain. Nothing could move him 
from his conviction. He was like that hero of whom Hor- 
ace sang: 

Should nature's frame in ruins fall 

And chaos o'er the sinking ball 
Resume primeval sway. 

His courage chance and fate defies, 

Nor feels the wreck of earth and skies 
Obstruct its destined way. 

In the memorable struggle over the revolutionary meas- 
ures of the Forty-third Congress he displayed the great 
qualities of leadership that made his name a household word 
throughout the land. It was then he showed to the world 
that he was master of parliamentary law. He was at the 
head of a minority, but little more than a third of the 
House, yet by his consummate skill and address he foiled 
every attempt of the majority to pass their lull. Tin 1 ma- 
jority side of the House had a large number of the ablest 
men in the Union, but among them all there was no match 
for Randall. When he stood among them he was like 
Saul among the chieftains of Israel, from his shoulders and 
upward he was higher than the tallest on the held, lean 
never forget, nor will the people among whom I live ever 
forget, that struggle, or forget the man who for seventy 
hours stood at the post of duty to avert the blow that was 
aimed at their hearts. 

The name of the force bill and the name of Sam Ran- 
dall, the one the oppressor and the other the deliverer, are 
remembered and often spoken around the firesides of our 



Life and Character of Samuel j. Randall. 63 

Southern homes. Our people remember how they shrank 
with fear and trembling at the mention of the one, and how 
their hope sprang forward at that of the other. 

We will soon have before us another wanton, reckless, and 
revolutionary measure, more widespreading and pernicious 
in its effects than the one of the Forty-third Congress. That 
measure is now being proposed and it is to be enacted to 
override the State governments of the South, supplant the 
State officers, and take charge of the ballot box and the reg- 
istration, counting, and certification of the votes of State 
electors. We shall miss Mr. Randall when this legislative 
monster enters this Hall. 

On his dying bed, when he knew not that the hand of death 
was on him, he often expressed a hope to be fully restored 
to health when these measures were taken up in the House. 
While he could not accomplish anything where parlia- 
mentary rules were abrogated and the procedure was reg- 
ulated by a sort of military order that prevents motions and 
amendments, and permits the majority to register their de- 
crees without debate, yet he could make his indignant de- 
nunciations heard throughout the land, and awake a slum- 
bering public opinion to speak out in behalf of the imper- 
iled rights of the people. But he is gone, and we must meet 
the enemy and light the battle without his aid. 

As a Southern man, and speaking for Southern people, I 
say that our differences of opinion are buried in the i^rave 
with our dead friend, that we cherish in our memories and 
will keep perpetually green the tender recollections of his 
faithful friendship for us when a powerful enemy was seek- 
ing our destruction. 



64 Address of Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania, on the 



ADDRESS OF MR. OSBORNE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr. Speaker: Samuel J. Randall was born in the city 
of Philadelphia, October 10, 1828. His education was aca- 
demic, and it was his early intention to become a merchant. 
Politics lured him from the ambition of his youth, and he 
became a member of the senate of Pennsylvania. While a 
senator the war broke out, and at the first call for troops by 
the National Government, in April. 1861, lie enlisted, and 
on the 13th of May, 1861, he was mustered into the United 
States service as a private soldier of the Philadelphia City 
Troop to serve for ninety days. 

The troop was attached to the Second Regiment United 
States Cavalry, commanded by Col. George H. Thomas. 
His service, though brief, was active ami interesting. He 
' was with his troop and participated in the battle of Falling 
Waters, and proved himself to be a brave soldier in battle. 
For his conspicuous gallantry on that occasion he was pro- 
moted to orderly of the troop. 

In October, 1862, he was elected a Representative in Con- 
gress from Pennsylvania. From that time until the day of 
his death he remained in Congress, having been successively 
reelected to every Congress from the Thirty-eighth to and 
including the Fifty-first, I have been told by gentlemen 
who were in Congress when he came here that he was a very 
quiet member, and took time in becoming accustomed to his 
new surroundings. He. however, early made himself effi- 
cient in committee work. 

hi the Forty-second Congress he became a member of the 
Committee on Redes. In the Forty-third Congress lie Led 
the opposition against the force bill, ami its defeat was due 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 65 

mainly to his efforts. He made an aggressive fight. By 
common consent, Randall became the hero of the occasion. 
In the Forty-fifth Congress his friends were confident that 
he would be made Speaker, but they were obliged to wait, 
and Randall became chairman of the Committee on Ap- 
propriations. Before the close of that Congress the Speaker 
died and Randall was chosen to fill the vacanc \ . 

His occupation of the chair was a guaranty of an honest 
administration of duty, regardless of personal consideration 
and in the broad spirit of a statesman. 

History will record him second to none as* the presiding 
officer of this House, whether the standard be ability, in- 
tegrity, firmness, breadth of character, or learning in par- 
liamentary law. 

When I contemplate how he stood up in the Forty-ninth 
and in the Fiftieth Congresses in defense of protection to 
American industry, I confess an admiration for his nobility 
of character and declare that lie was a patriotic statesman 
of the broadest vision. Nothing could stand between him 
and duty. 

His life was one of honor and honesty, amid great temp- 
tations. There were times in his life when his friends trem- 
bled lest he should stumble. But, thanks be to Him who sits 
among the stars, he has passed into the great hereafter with- 
out a stain upon his personal integrity. 

After twenty-eight years of public service, during the 
most exciting time of our country's history, he died honored 
and beloved by all who knew him. 
H. Mis. 265 5 



66 Address of Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky, on the 



Address of Mr. McCreary, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker : In all ages and in all countries men have 
honored their dead and turned aside for awhile from the 
cares and conflicts, the duties and demands, of life to recall 
their virtues and triumphs, and in kind and loving language 
rendered to their memory tributes of respect and love. 

•'Death, advancing with equal and impartial step," has 
stricken down nine of our brothers in this House of Repre- 
sentatives. All had served faithfully and capably, and 
three of them, Samuel S. Cox, William D. Kelley, and 
Samuel J. Randall, because of their long membership in 
Congress, their great abilities, and their valuable services, 
ranked among the foremost men of our country. The death- 
roll in the Fifty-first Congress is very lengthy, and memorial 
proceedings have almost continually reminded us that "in 
the midst of life we are in death." To-day we pay tribute 
to the memory of Samuel Jackson Randall. This desk 
at which I now stand was his for nearly twenty years. It 
recalls his devotion to duty, his fealty to principle, his 
brave and able efforts as a tribune of the people. Here he 
dis] tlayed that courage that never blanched before an adver- 
sary, that leadership which made him one of the most re- 
markable men of his time, that honesty which was so well 
known and so highly respected, and that ability which en- 
abled him to grasp facts and achieve victories in behalf of 
wise and patriotic legislation. 

It recalls also his genial nature, his pleasant faculty of 
endearing himself to all who sat around him, his unforget- 
ful courtesy and friendship which were so often manifested 
to his friends and which, if 1 may he pardoned for a personal 
allusion, he showed to me so kindly when, among his last 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 67 

written requests, he invited me to occupy his seal at this 
desk. His committee room was his workshop, and the House 
of Representatives was his grand forum, where he helped 
to form the policy of his country and helped to check en- 
croachments on the rights of his countrymen, and I know 
of no other man who for twenty-eight successive years was 
so completely identified with the House of Representatives 
or who gave himself to national legislation so unceasingly 
and untiringly without a single abstracting pursuit. 

Mr. Randall seemed to be destined to art his part in very 
important epochs. He was born in the midst of the great 
campaign which resulted in the election of Andrew Jackson 
as President of the United States, and in courage, energy, 
and devotion to duty he was a fit exemplar of the hero of 
the Hermitage. He was elected to Congress soon after the 
commencement of the administration of Abraham Lincoln, 
and took his seat when a terrible civil war was raging. His 
experience as a soldier before he entered Congress and his 
participation in the legislation of Congress during the war 
made him the true friend of Federal soldiers and the cham- 
pion, when the war was over, of peace, friendship, and fra- 
ternity on honorable terms between those who had engaged 
in civil strife. 

Nearly twenty-eighl years have passed since he entered 
Congress, but he belonged to such a remarkable and dis- 
tinguished group of men who impressed themselves so 
thoroughly on the legislation of those limes and developed 
SO rapidly under the excitement of the war period that the 
history of all of them is conspicuously interwoven. 

Samuel J. Randall. Samuel S. Cox. George H. Pendle- 
ton. William S. Holman were then on the Democratic side 
of the House of Representatives, and James A. Garfield, 
James G. Blaine, William D. Kelley. and William Allison 






68 Address of Mr. Mci reary, of Kentucky, on the 

were on the Republican side. What a splendid galaxy of 
gallant and gifted gentlemen. All were young and promi- 
nent in the Thirty-eighth Congress. One has since been 
elected President of the United States, one was nominated 
for the Presidency, but defeated, two have been formidable 
candidates for the nomination for President, one was 
Speaker of the House of Representatives for five sessions, 
and five of them were Senators or foreign ministers. 

To-day all of the Republicans named are dead except two 
and all of the Democrats are dead save one. Mr. Randall 
being the last to receive the dreaded summons which sooner 
or later must come to us all. It may be said with emphasis 
that no man in that conspicuous array of aide men excelled 
him in stainless character, honest purposes, pure and 
exalted manhood, and courageous devotion to convictions. 

He was fourteen times elected by the voters of his district 
to represent them in the Congress of the United States and 
he was three times elected Speaker by his brother Repre- 
sentatives. 

He was an accomplished parliamentarian and discharged 
the duties of Speaker ably and promptly and fairly. On 
the floor of the House of Representatives, as a debater or as 
a working member of committees or as leader of his party, 
he was conscientious and courageous, and won from his 
friends and political opponents the proud title of a just and 
honest man. When corruption was rampant in the c< .untry 
and lust for power threatened to be stronger than love of 
country the tongue of slander never tarnished his reputation, 
and he died poor in purse, but rich in honor and public 

respect. 

As tin- unrelenting foe of extravagance and jobbery he 
stood between the Treasury and the men who were trying 
to obtain appropriations of money, and as chairman of the 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 69 

Committee on Appropriations lie saved many millions of 
dollars for the Government. 

In defending the rights of the States against Federal en- 
croachments Mr. Randall was at his best, and his memora- 
ble physical and intellectual battle royal in opposition to 
the "force bill" not only gave him a great and deserved 
reputation throughout the country at the time, but it will 
always be remembered as a great achievement in a life full 
of brilliant achievements. Trained in the protection school 
of Pennsylvania politics, he was always in full sympathy 
with the Democratic party on every question except on the 
tariff, and no one ever doubted his sincerity on this subject 
or dared to assail the integrity of his motives. 

But it is not necessary that I should say more about the 
public life of Samuel J. Randall. His utterances are 
found in nearly every Congressional Record issued in the 
last quarter of a century, and the history of his life is a 
splendid compendium of national legislation during that 
period. 

His private life was peaceful, pleasant, and happy. All 
that I know of it was interesting, instructive, and tender. 
With the weapons of worldly warfare laid aside, his home 
life was full of sweet cadence, and around his own heart h- 
stone he appeared as the devoted husband, the loving father, 
thf generous friend. It was here that he illustrated bow 
happy and contented he could be, as he tried to do his full 
duty to his God, his family, his country, and his fellow-men. 

Thus loving and loved our friend and brother Representa- 
tive passed away. The political storm in which he was 
born, the trying and thrilling war scenes amid which he 
commenced his Congressional career, have long ago been 
succeeded by " ways of pleasantness and paths of peace." 
He lived to see, and with a master mind he helped^ his eoun- 



70 Address of Mr. Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, on the 

try return to peace, progress, prosperity, and fraternity, and 
he died with the music of church bells filling his ears and 
the sweet word "mother" on his lips. 

We miss him and mourn for him here. His countrymen 
deeply deplore his death. It ameliorates the nation's loss to 
feel that he '"fought a good fight." and died full of years 
and full of honors, and that history will forever record and 
preserve his public services. Bowing with resignation to 
the decree that called him away from us, I express the sincere 
hope that Divine blessings will comfort and sustain his loved 
and bereaved wife and children. 



Address of Mr. Dalzell, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: It is very fitting that those who for many 
years had participated with Mr. Randall in the conduct of 
public affairs should bear witness to those manly qualities, 
that lofty conception of duty, and devotion thereto, which 
entitle him to a place among the great men of his time; but 
it is also fitting that some who stood at greater distance 
from him and can dispassionately measure results should be 
permitted to bring their contribution to the chaplet to be 
woven in his praise. Of such, Mr. Speaker, I am one. 

Coming to the Fiftieth Congress a new member, I met 
with a friendly reception that I had no right to expect from 
a veteran statesman like Mr. Randall. I had from him 
words of counsel and encouragement, and I found that he 
was not unwilling on occasion to take suggestion and counsel 
even from a newcomer. 

One scene by reason of his connection with it is inefface- 
ably impressed upon my memory. I recall with great dis- 
tinctness the day when, in this House, Massachusetts with 



Life and Character of Samuc! J. Randall. 71 

commendable pride made gift to the nation of the portraits 
in oil of those of her distinguished sons who had occupied 
the Speaker's chair. In words fitl} r spoken and with chaste 
and classic eloquence the presentation was made. The 
Speaker's chair, as it happened, was temporarily filled by 
an honored son of New York and of the nation, now, too, 
numbered among the great cloud of witnesses who testify 
only to the things that have been. 

He whose memory we now honor, speaking, as he said, in 
words inspired by the occasion, moved the resolution by 
which the gift was accepted. 

It occurred to me then that there was a peculiar appro- 
priateness in the fact that an ex-Speaker, whose official 
record would compare with that of any Speaker living or 
dead, should voice the nation's acceptance, and it occurred 
to me also that the time was probably not far distant 
when Pennsylvania might claim the proud right to place in 
the Pantheon of the nation's worthies the counterfeit pre- 
sentment of Samuel J. Randall side by side with pictures 
of the chosen sons of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Randall's speech on that occasion was characteristic 
of the man, and furnishes the key to his life and character. 
Referring to the Speakership, he said : 

Soon after I entered this House, now more than a quarter of a century 
ago, I came to consider that that office which you. sir. now temporarily 
hold was the highest office within the reach of an American citizen; 
that it was a grand official station, great in the honors which it conferred 
and still greater in the ability it gave to impress upon our history and leg- 
islation the stamp of truth, fairness, justice, and right. 

These, then, were the objects of his ambition — truth, fair- 
ness, justice, and right — to be enacted into law; this his 
estimate of the value of public place, thai il furnished the 
opportunities for such enactment. 



72 Address of Mr. Dalzell^ of Pennsylvania, on the 

Will any man say that Pennsylvania's great Speaker ever 
swerved from his lofty conception of duty or hesitated in 
the task of its performance? And does not history bear 
witness that, regardless of person or party, keeping close to 
the line of conscience, he faced with a dominant courage 
every emergency that fortune cast into his pathway ? 

The historic period within which his public career is 
bounded is the most picturesque in onr national life. It 
includes a civil war unparalleled in kind and character in 
all the annals of time. In that war Mr. Raxdall was a 
soldier on the side of his country; but of this he made no 
parade, content that the consciousness of duty done should 
be his ample reward, and his fame will ultimately rest 
upon his achievements in this House. 

Here legislative questions presented themselves, more 
novel and trying even than those attendant upon the early 
days of an experimental republic — questions involving new 
relations between individuals and between States; questions 
of finance, of taxation, and relating to new and untried con- 
ditions. The wise adjustment of these questions called for 
ingenuity, for courage, for the exercise of a discreet and 
deliberate judgment. This is not the time for their review, 
nor have they any place here, save as illustrating Mr. Ran- 
dall's loyalty to his conviction of duty, his untiring 
industry, and his contribution to their wise determina- 
tion. 

Mr. Randall was eminently a tribune of the people. To 
most men distinguished in public life the House of Repre- 
sentatives is but a halting place on their pathway to the Sen- 
ate or beyond. To this rule Pennsylvania has contributed a 
triumvirate of conspicuous exceptions. With pride she 
points to Thaddrus Stevens. William I). Kelley. and Sam- 
UEL J. Randall as members of the world's select company 



Life and Character of Samuel J, Randall. 73 

of great commoners whose pulses beat in unison with the 
pulses of the people. 

Mr. Randall's was a long, faithful, earnest, honest, fruit- 
ful public career. It is ended. The chapter of his life is 
closed. The judgment must now be pronounced from which 
there is no appeal. It is with us who knew him a judgment 
of commendation. I hazard the opinion that posterity will 
not reverse it, that his character will assume larger and 
grander proportions with the passage of time. Many men 
make their mark on their own time; not many leave their 
mark on succeeding times.- Many men write their names so 
that their own generation may see and know them; but few 
carve their names, as Samuel J. Randall did, on the en- 
during tablets of history. 

And so we leave him— his career well-rounded, his life 
work done, the strife of this arena forgotten, all cares rolled 
away, all pains soothed — 

Secure from worldly chances and mishaps. 

Here lurks no treason: here no envy swells; 

Here grow no damned grudges; here are no storms, 

No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. 



ADDRESS OF MR. O'FERRALL, OF VIRGINIA. 

Mr. Speaker: Pennsylvania weeps over the grave of 
Randall, her illustrious son. but she weeps not alone. 

Every State mingles her tears with those of the State 
that gave him birth, rocked him in her cradle, nursed trim 
in her lap. reared him to manhood, honored him through 
life, and looked with unspeakable pride upon his greatness 



74 Address of Mr. (J Fcrrall, of Virginia, on the 

and fame, and now wreathes garlands about his imperish- 
able name. 

Pennsylvania stands with bowed head, clad in mourning 
as his mother, but she stands not alone in her grief, for this 
Avhole land is stricken. She is here to-day through her 
Representatives to speak her words of sorrow at his death, 
but she speaks not alone, for the Representatives of forty- 
one other States by sigh or voice or moistened eye speak 
the sorrow of a nation. 

I have risen in my place as a Representative of the Old 
Commonwealth to testify as best I can with my feeble tongue 
to the love she bore for this great and grand man, and to 
the anguish of her soul now that he has joined the mighty 
host beyond the shores of Time. 

I need not say Virginia never simulates love; she never 
feigns sorrow. She loved Randall with a devotion that 
knew no bounds, and her sorrow at his death is as genuine 
as her love was true. 

She may not quickly forgive an enemy, but she never for- 
gets a friend. Her heart may be as hard as adamant and her 
temper as violent as a cyclone when confronted by a foe, but 
a kind hand, a kind word, or a kind look softens that heart 
and calms that temper, and a friendly deed opens up the 
wellsprings of her nature and they come forth gushing in 
torrents of gratitude. She may write Avrongs deep upon 
the tablet of her memory, but she chisels deeper acts of 
justice. 

In Randall she ever found a friend whose hand and 
heart and soul w^ere enlisted in her defense against wrongs 
and in the vindication of her rights. 

With her Southern sisters she stood weak and poor, bleed- 
ing from a hundred wounds, helpless to avert the dangers 
that threatened, powerless to ward the blows which were 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 75 

being aimed at her dearest interests, her material welfare, 
her most sacred rights, her civilization, her homes, her lares 
and penates. 

Almost in despair, almost ready to accept what seemed to 
be the inevitable and to bear with heroic patience the yoke 
which had been made for her neck, as sudden as a flash, as 
quick as a sunbeam, despair gave way to hope, hope sprang 
into confidence ; a deliverer in full armor, strong, able, and 
courageous, appeared in the arena— Samuel J. Randall, 
the man with a nerve of iron, the courage of a lion, and the 
wisdom of a sage. Samuel J. Randall, the born leader 
of men, the born enemy of tyranny, the born lover of con- 
stitutional freedom, had espoused the cause of a weak, 
feeble, bleeding, and defenseless people. 

From that eventful moment the South took courage ; her 
patriarchs raised their drooping heads, her young sons 
stepped quicker and their blood flowed freer, while the 
bosoms of her daughters heaved with emotions, and with 
uplifted eyes their lips moved in prayer and their tongues 
sang paeans and praises. 

History records that memorable conflict on this floor when 
for seventy -two consecutive hours, with eyes that never 
slumbered and a body that never rested, this man stood like 
a mighty giant parrying and thrusting, contending and 
battling for the eternal principle of local State government 
until the light of victory broke and the wires heralded the 
glad tidings from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and the 
mountains and plains, hills and dells of the South were 
swept by the sounds of a rejoicing people. 

Mr. Speaker, it is always easy for a public man to spring 
into the current of popular sentiment and be carried along 
by the clamors of the majority, but true manhood rises in 
the majesty of its strength when in the maintenance of 



76 Address of Mr. CP Ferrell, of Virginia, on the 

some great principle it becomes necessary to stem the swift- 
gliding current of popular sentiment and face the clamors 
of the multitude. True heroism shines in defense of the 
weak and never in the crusade of the strong. True patri- 
otism dazzles with its effulgency in the vindication of 
trampled rights and never in the maintenance of public 
wr< mgs. 

Measured by this standard the illustrious son of Pennsyl- 
vania will ever stand in the twilight of history as the very 
personification of manhood, heroism, and patriotism. Our 
annals are replete with examples of the highest types of 
the man, hero, and patriot; our pages of history are bright 
with the deeds of those " whose names were not born to 
die." The youth of this land need not turn his eyes to 
fi .reign climes for the most perfect models of public virtue. 
He need not delve among the musty traditions of Greece 
and Rome or study the records of modern Europe for pat- 
terns of the statesman and patriot. 

Here, here under these skies, under the sun that, unob- 
scured by partisan clouds, sheds its genial rays alike upon 
the plains of Texas and the hills of Maine: here, under the 
segis of our Constitution, have been born, have lived and 
died the grandest types and most perfect models of men; 
and here in this galaxy is Samuel J. Randall, from whom 
the boy of Virginia or Massachusetts can draw the inspira- 
tions of truth, honor, courage, fidelity, and patriotism, and 
learn the duty that man owes to his country. 

But, Mr. Speaker, I must not trespass longer upon the time 
set apart for these memorial addresses. My tribute, though 
poor and unadorned, has at least the merit of sincerity. My 
heart feels more than I can express. 

I am glad that I knew Samuel J. Randall personally, 
and proud that I could call him my friend. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 77 

He is gone — 

And let our future poets learn to sing- 
How here in his place he stood erect, 
And battled always for his country's cause 
Her shrines, her Constitution, and her laws. 

Virginia brings her laurel wreath to bedeck his name; 
upon his grave she plants her evergreens of memory, and 
upon the walls of her homes she will hang his image, hop- 
ing, believing that the God in whom he trusted, who "from 
seeming evil still educes good,"' has dealt the blow for wise 
purposes of His own. 



Address of Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey. 

Mr. Speaker: I rise, sir, not to direct your memory back 
to struggles in this Hall, when the fires of sectional hate 
were kindled and party spirit ran high, but, in a few words. 
to pay tribute to what I believe to have been the predomi- 
nant trait in the character of our departed friend and asso- 
ciate. 

Samuel J. Randall was an honest man. Amid all the 
temptations of place and the allurements of power he kept 
his name and fame pure and unsullied. No doubtful scheme 
received his support, and his vote followed only upon care- 
ful and conscientious investigation. Devoting the best 
years of his manhood to his country's service, he thought 
only of the public good, and never of self. Holding at 
times the reins of extensive power, he lived the simple 
life of an humble citizen, and died poor in this world's 
goods, but rich in the affection of his colleagues and en- 
dowed with the esteem of all the people. Words grow 
tame as we stand in the presence of such a character and 
with all the freshness of such a memory yet upon us. 



7s Address of Mr. Mansur, of Missouri, on the 

May his example animate us, and inspire to such a per- 
formance of our duties here that when, over the cold and 
inanimate form of each one, the words of tender friendship) 
are spoken, it may be truly said: "He, too, was a faithful 
representative of the people." 

With his simplicity of life, his devotion to duty, his love 
of country, Samuel J. Randall would have at our hands 
no other monument. 



Address of Mr. Mansur, of Missouri. 

Mr. Speaker: Some years since an aged friend was stricken 
to die within the hour. Being near neighbors, my wife and 
myself were hurriedly summoned. On arriving, I found 
my friend lying upon his right side with his face toward an 
east window, his devoted wife and some of the younger 
children at the foot of the bed sobbing wildly, at the side 
his eldest son, convulsed with grief, kneeling with an arm 
over the form of his father. Passing around the foot of the 
bed, entering a narrow space between it and the window. 1 
took the hand of my friend within my own, then, looking 
into his fast-fading" and dim eyes, I said, " Uncle Andy, do 
you know me?" At once, brightly, yet almost divinely, 
through the eyes of the soul he answered my appeal. I 
have said brightly, I should have said fiercely, scintillating 
like diamonds '"'of purest ray serene," the eyes burned with 
electric fervor. 

Never in all my lift 1 had I gazed upon and into such 
glorious eyes; entranced, I saw naught but his life, his in- 
telligence, his spirit, his soul, answering to my gaze. Thus 
a moment passed. Then the flashing scintillations became 
quiet, the eye burned brightly, but quietly, the orb seemed 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 79 

to contract, the bright light grew smaller, weaker in force, 
fading, dying, is gone, a scarce-heard sigh was gently 
breathed, and the spirit of Uncle Andy wafted its way to 
that •'undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler 
returns. " 

The body of my late friend lay before me. The earthly 
tabernacle was there, but the spirit, the intelligence that 
dominated that body, was gone; gone never to return to 
earth, or to again inhabit its late abiding place. Strange 
thought, strange idea, yet for years I have felt that I saw 
that imprisoned soul depart and heard its zephyr whisper of 
farewell. 

What is death? Who can answer? That it separates the 
spirit from flesh all admit. That the flesh after death perishes, 
decays, all know ; yet what of the spirit? For one I affirm 
an undying conviction that it survives. I know not how nor 
where, but I do know that I have never thought upon death 
without a blind, fierce, intolerant conviction grew upon me 
that my soul could not enter into oblivion. It must survive. 
It must somewhere exist and adapt itself to its new condi- 
tion and surroundings. It may be in happiness. It may be 
in misery; but, glorious thought, triumphant conviction, it 
survives, it lives, it exists. Reason as I will, as I have, I 
can not escape, nor would I, the everlasting belief in the 
eternity of the soul. 

That it were possible 
For one short hour to see 
The souls we loved, that they might tell us 
What and where they be. 

A great man of a great country has died. Died like a 
hero, in that he died at the post of duty. A man of imperial 
mold, Samuel J. Randall scorned dishonor, hated can) . de- 
spised hypocrisy, and loved integrity. To those he loved, 



80 Address of Mr. Mansur, of Missouri, on the 

gentle as a woman : to those lie scorned or despised, fierce 
and unrelenting as a tiger. A spirit bold and unterrified as 
ever animated a man. he knew not fear or surrender. Given 
to him the conviction that he was morally right, he never 
yielded nor quailed. When I remember, much as he loved 
the Democracy, to which his whole life was dedicated, in 
whose service he died, that he would not abate a jot of his 
devotion to the cause of protect ion, when badgered, hounded 
by every organ and every orator of tariff reform, he pursued 
the even tenor of his way, fighting for his idol of protection, 
disdaining to strike back at party friends who so frequently 
reacl him out of a party he idolized, but out of which he 
never went, and, it may be. in humble imitation of '"the 
man of sorrows," never taunted or reviled his traducers, I 
think and believe he was the strongest yet most patient man 
in his convictions of political duty I have ever known. 

1 did not know Mr. Randall prior t< > the Fiftieth Congress. 
I shall therefore leave the questions of his lifetime service 
to his party, to his country, to others to speak upon, who 
knew him longer and more intimately than myself. 

To me he was always kind-hearted and obliging. Upon 
his learning that I was born in the limits of his district, he 
ever afterward seemed to feel an especial interest in my wel- 
fare, and I recall many manifestations of the same upon 
divers occasions. A couple must here suffice: When ascend- 
ing the Delaware River upon the occasion of the launching 
of the two United States steamers at Cramp's navy-yard at 
Philadelphia, in the summer of 1888, he sought me out upon 
the boat, stood by my side, warned me to look quickly, as 
the boat shot by the foot of Chestnut street, lest I should 
not see the corner nearest the spol of my birth, which he 
was playfully anxious I should set-, which he carefully de- 
scribed beforehand, and then pointed out to me. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 81 

Again, in July, 1888, during the tariff debate, under the 
five-minute rule, I was, with whatever power and energy I 
possess, assailing the doci fine of protection. When my time 
expired Mr. Randall sought and obtained recognition, and 
kindly, nay, graciously, gave his friend from Missouri his 
time, and permitted me to go on and assail, to my heart's 
content, his favorite political dogma. This recognition by 
the Chair and transfer of time was his last appearance in 
health upon the floor of Congress, save once, a day or two 
later, when, on July 9, he spoke a very few words, only a 
dozen or two, in regard to the proper rate of taxation for 
molasses under the then pending tariff bill. 

Stern, austere it may be, at times to others, to me he was 
uniformly kind and gracious. 

Grand old man— heroic soul— making his peace with his 
God, surrounded by a loving family and mourning friends, 
he departed this life Sunday morning, April 13, 1890; poor 
in the goods of this world, but unpurchasably rich in an un- 
dying fame, an unsullied reputation, and a glorious memory 
to which his country and his friends can ever point with 
unceasing pride, and bid the youth of the future to emulate 
his career and take him for one of their great exemplars. 

Let us believe, purified by long suffering, disenthralled 
from an infirm body, which on earth hampered his mighty 
soul, he is to-day in the realms of eternal space, a leader 
among disembodied spirits, even as he was on earth a leader 
among men. 

God's finger touched him and he slept. 
H. Mis. 205 6 



82 Address of Mr. Williams, of Ohio, on llic 



Address of Mr. Williams, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker : Death is a mystery unsolved by human 
intellect. The grave is a sealed book, and beyond the 
portals of the tomb lies the shadowy land of the unknown. 
Philosophy builds out of the aspirations of this life the 
theory of the immortality of the soul. Religion calls to her 
;iid the handmaid of faith, and teaches the doctrine of a 
life beyond the grave, but in the presence of this profound 
problem of human destiny we have only the speculations of 
the philosopher and the faith of the Christian, for no 
messenger has ever returned from the shoreless sea of 
eternity and the grave has never revealed its secret. There- 
fore, in the presence of death the proudest intellect bows in 
reverential awe, and the humblest child of earth stands 
with quivering lips and aching heart. 

Mr. Speaker, my personal acquaintance with our honored 
colleague whose death we mourn and whose virtues we 
to-day commemorate began in the Fiftieth Congress, but 
for over twenty years I have been familiar with his public 
history. Although I was not in sympathy with the party 
to which he belonged, I have watched his political career 
with intense interest, for there is something inspiring in 
watching the career of a brave, honest man fighting not 
only his political foes, but fiercely contending with his party 
friends for the establishment of a policy and principle he 
believes to be for the interest of his people and nation. 

Samuel J. Randall was elected to the Thirty-eighth 
Congress, and reelected to every succeeding Congress to 
the present time, and died a member of this body. I am 
informed that during his first and second terms in Congress 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 83 

he seldom participated in the debates on the floor of the 
House, but was a hard worker in his committee room. In 
the Forty-third Congress he obtained a national reputation 
for the strong, persistent, and successful fight he made 
against a powerful majority in opposition to the famous 
"force bill." 

In the Forty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations, and added new laurels to his 
growing fame in his successful efforts in retrenchment of 
Government appropriations. In the second session of the 
Forty-fourth Congress he was elected Speaker, and was a Is., 
elected" Speaker of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth. His 
rulings as Speaker have been criticised severely and ofttimes 
harshly, but no decision made by him was ever overruled by 
the House. He received 100 votes as the nominee for Presi- 
dent in the Democratic convention of 1880, and in the con- 
vention of 1884, where he was not a candidate, but a strong- 
supporter of Grover Cleveland, he received on the first bah 
lot 170 votes. 

Had he been nominated in 1880, when the friends of the 
silent Man of Destiny were sulking in their tents and the 
friends of the Plumed Knight of Maine were brooding over 
defeat, he would have commanded the confidence and sup- 
port of the friends of protection in his State and nation in 
sufficient numbers to have insured his triumphant election. 
Mr. Speaker, this is not the time and place to criticise and 
speculate upon the mistakes of a greai party, but I believe 
that had SAMUEL J. Randall received flic nomination of 
his party for President in 1880 one of the saddesl chapters 
in the history of this nation would have been unwritten and 
the tragedy which resulted in Garfield's death avoided. 

Mr. Speaker, Samuel J. Randall died a poor man. This 
statement standing alone is ordinary and commonplace ; but 



84 Address of Mr. Williams, of Ohio, on the 

it is not so when we remember that during his long Con- 
gressional career he occupied positions where he had only to 
be silent and silence would bring riches, he had only to be 
passive and inaction would bring wealth, and that through 
his long career of public life, five times appointed chairman 
of the Committee on Appropriations, three times elected 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, no stain rested 
upon his personal integrity, no shadow of suspicion fell upon 
the pure white robe of his reputation for honesty. 

Mr. Speaker, in this period of our nation's history, when 
the wisdom of statesmanship is subordinated to the greed 
for riches, when the God-given genius of bright intellect 
pales before the glint of gold and the sparkle of diamonds, 
when the toga of a Senator and the robe of the tribune of 
the people are won and worn as the price and adornment of 
wealth, the rugged, honest character of Samuel J. Ran- 
dall stands out as a priceless heritage, not only to his 
family, but to the common people of this nation. 

Sir, since the beginning of this session of Congress two of 
its oldest and most honored members have passed away. 
Pennsylvania and Philadelphia have been unf < >rtunate. Wil- 
liam D. Kelley, " the father of the House," full of honor and 
of years, rich in experience and the wealth of a well-culti- 
vated intellect, after devoting his life to establishing the 
principles of the equality of all men before the law and pro- 
tection to American industries "sleeps the sleep that knows 
no waking," and before the flowers that adorned his grave 
faded in the sunshine and storm we were called to pay the 
last tribute of respect to his honored colleague, who died in 
the prime and vigor of a ripe manhood, the victim, as I be- 
lieve, of constant and unremitting toil for the cause of the 
I H ■. iple he loved so well. 

Mr. Speaker, the memory of Samuel J. Randall will 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 85 

live in the hearts of the people. The simplicity of his life, 
the impress he has made upon the statute books of the na- 
tion, the fearless spirit and the rugged honesty of the man 
will be an incentive and inspiration to the young men of our 
country to cherish the liberties of the people and the simple 
manners of the fathers of the Republic. 



Address of Mr, Covert, of New York. 

Mr. Speaker : Next, perhaps, to the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, my own State of New York loved Samuel J. 
Randall best while living and now mourns him with deep- 
est sorrow dead. The sublime courage of the great states- 
man, his deep earnestness, his ever-present faithfulness, and 
his unswerving honesty were qualities which commended 
him long ago to the whole people of my State. To-day New 
York joins with Pennsylvania in an expression of sincere 
sorrow at the loss of one who was something more than an 
able and respected Representative iii Congress. 

A statesman has left us whose home was not alone in the 
locality which sent him here, but in the hearts of the people 
of the whole land. He represented more than a local con- 
stituency and stood for more than local interests. While 
his home district was near and dear to him always his alle- 
giance was not confined to its narrow limits, and his labors 
were not alone for its peeple. He had for his constituency 
patriotic and liberty-loving men everywhere, and he had 
for his district the whole confederation of States. 

I shall not attempt sir, at this late hour, to add anything 
in the direction of personal history to what has been so fully 
and feelingly said by my esteemed friend from Pennsylvania 
[Mr. O'Neill], who was so long and so intimately associated 



86 Address of Mr. Covert, of New York, on the 

with Mr. Randall in his Congressional labors. The life- 
work of our late fellow-member has been outlined by his 
colleagues who have already spoken. They have borne full 
and truthful evidence of the warm affection in which their 
distinguished associate was held in the State of his nativity, 
and which for so long a time honored itself by honoring him. 

I seek, in the few remarks I am making, only to voice if 
I can the sentiment of deep regret shared by my colleagues 
and by the great State we represent, at the loss New York 
feels she has sustained in the death of him who was rightly 
called "The Great Commoner,''' and these remarks are in- 
tended to be as sincere and as direct as was the character of 
him of whom I speak. His was in very truth a character 
cast in heroic mold. However modest he was by nature, 
the direct and positive qualities of the man could not but 
assert themselves. Thus it was that this man grew. 

By natural methods, without seeking advancement, pro- 
motion came to him; leadership was conferred upon him, 
and the Speakership of this House was accorded to him as if 
it was his by natural right. I had the honor to serve as one 
of the junior members of this body during four years of Mr. 
Randall's service as Speaker. No judge upon the bench 
ever excelled him in the absolute fairness and impartiality of 
his rulings. 

To be right was his first aim, and that he succeeded in this 
desire was attested by the respect always* accorded to his 
decisions. 

As a leader, whether of the majority or minority in this 
House, he was able, courageous, faithful, and honest. He 
never sought to attract admiration for the skill and ability 
by which he accomplished results. Like a master artist, he 
was content that hiswork when completed should speak for 
itself and for the methods which produced it. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 87 

It lias been stated more than once to-day that Mr. Ran- 
dall was a man of deeds rather than of words. While it 
is true that he did not indulge in figures of speech and did 
not practice even if he possessed the graces of oratory, yet 
I never heard him speak without thinking him eloquent. 
He was direct and manly and forceful in marshaling the 
material of which his speeches were constructed. His 
phrases had absolutely no veneering about them. The 
grain of the hardened oak could be observed in them al- 
ways, and this was more attractive than any artificial 
coloring. 

He was absolutely sincere in his political beliefs. Democ- 
racy with him was something more than a mere name, some- 
thing other than an empty title. With him it involved that 
abstract idea of manhood, equality, which, when applied 
within the walls of this Chamber, meant the equality of all 
members as Representatives in Congress. While he was 
Speaker of this House every young member of it, no mat- 
ter on which side of the Chamber he was seated, realized 
that his rights were sacred in the keeping of the occupant 
of the chair, and was his warm and devoted personal 
friend. 

Mr. Speaker, the life of Samuel J. Randall has yet to 
be written. His colleagues, however desirous they have 
been to give to this House and to the country an apprecia- 
tive review of his public services, have yet, from lack of 
time, presented only an outline of his work— extending over 
a period of nearly thirty years. For over a quarter of a 
century these services have formed a part, and a very im- 
portant part, of his country's history. An extended biog- 
raphy of this courageous and earnest worker should be 
placed in circulation, not only as a measure of justice to 
him and to the work he accomplished, but for the benefit 



88 Address of Mr. Carer/, of New York, on the 

and encouragemeni of those who are to follow in govern- 
mental affairs. 

Some cynic early said, "Republics are ungrateful. " The 
universal sorrow over the death of Samuel J. Randall 
proves the untruth of this statement. The whole people ap 
preciate to-day thai the grand figure whose presence we miss 
from this Hail gave all he could— his best years and his best 
ability to his country. They know and appreciate thatno 
soldier ever on any battlefield gave better or truer service. 
They mourn with deepest sincerity this gallant soldier who 
fought and won so many civic battles for them, and they 
want his memory to be handed down to all time — the com- 
mon heritage of the Republic. 

Reference has been made to the fact that this able, active 
worker, after a life's devotion to the public interests, died 
pool-. This may be true in a material sense, but from every 
other standpoint the man who lived and labored and died as 
he did never knew poverty, and left behind him more than 
a princely fortune. Samuel J. Randall died rich, rich in 
the warm regard of all who knew him and in the respect and 
admiration of the people whose interests he protected. He 
has left behind him not a colossal fortune obtained by un- 
scrupulous means, but he has bequeathed to the family he 
loved and by whom he was idolized, to the people of this 
land whom he unselfishly served and who gratefully appre- 
ciate his labors, the record of a life as bright and as flawless 
as the June sunshine which to-day gilds the dome of the 
Nation's Capitol. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 89 



Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Speaker: The life of Samuel J. Randall and his 
services, particularly those which made him conspicuous, 
render an eulogium upon him in a House composed of polit- 
ical friends ami enemies a task of extreme delicacy and 
much difficulty. To draw Mr. Randall as he actually was, 
to do justice to his life and what he said and did, to make 
his character truthful, articulate, and lifelike, requires much 
sympathy with his opinions, such intense, earnest belief in 
those convictions which were rooted in his very soul, that 
he who does it upon an occasion like this either falls short 
of what he believes is just, or runs the risk of overstepping 
the line which marks the proprieties of such a scene. 

Mr. Randall was essentially a partisan. He believed 
with all his heart that his political principles were true. 
He accepted the conclusions which severe logic required of 
those principles, and he followed the practical conclusion to 
the end. He felt that his country's interests were involved 
in his party's triumph. He risked himself, his fortunes, 
and his all upon his party's success. Not because the nar- 
row horizon of party bounded his vision, but because he 
interblended his love for his country and his hopes of her 
glory and prosperity with the consummation of the victory 
of principles which he believed to be essential to that pros- 
perity, and which alone could give to the country its glory 
and to free institutions their permanency and life. No 
man has ever appeared in American politics, except Andrew 
Jackson, who was so intense a partisan; and therefore when 
I was asked to participate in these ceremonies my inclina- 
tion was at once to decline, because I feared that to do him 
justice might seem to be a criticism upon others. 



00 Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Ken lucky, on the 

And yet, Mr. Speaker, it is only in the frank contest of 
opposing opinions, only in the severe and rigorous battle of 
truthful and noble natures who disagree, that right is found 
and truth made victorious. When men uncover their hearts, 
when they remove the veil from their brains, so that all men 
may see the honest processes of their thought, and behold 
all the emotions of the inner man, then to contest is given 
nobility and from party struggles taken both hypocrisy and 
suspicion. If we could understand each other in these strifes, 
if we could see in each other's hearts that love for country 
is the basis of our efforts, and that all we desire is to build 
upon that foundation what is best for that beloved country 
and for man, we would forgive the asperities of debate, we 
should be patient with disagreements on the floor, we should 
have toleration even for those things which we could not ap- 
prove, that sprang out of a motive so good. And when I 
view the life of Mr. Randall, consistent, vigorous, earnest, 
sometimes fierce, always aggressive, I do not know how to 
read it aright except upon the simple and truthful explana- 
tion that he was exactly what he professed to be, a Democrat 
in his convictions; believing the success of his party was es- 
sential to the glory of his country. 

When he came 1<> apply those principles in practical 
politics in his place on this floor they bore under his leader- 
ship such fruit as he believed would follow. The nearest 
representative of the people is theHouseof Representatives, 
into whose keeping the Constitution has primarily deposited 
the right of the purse. Its supervision shall be over execu- 
tive expenditures, its warrant shall be the condition prece- 
dent t<> executive action. This principle Mr. Randall 
enforced with a, knowledge of detail, with an energy of will, 
with an aggressiveness of purpose that did not save thirty 
millions a year merely, for that is the very smallest item of 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 91 

it, but which elevated the House of Representatives to its 
true position in our political government, which made the 
House dominate the executive department, which restored 
to the representatives of the people the power of the purse, 
and for the first time in years taught all other persons in 
power that the House of Representatives was in fact the 
people of the United States and its voice was the voice that 
came from the ballot-box. 

This was the notable triumph of Mr. Randall's life. It 
was a triumph which marked him as an extraordinarily great 
parliamentarian. That he should have acquired a knowl- 
edge of every bureau under this complex Government; that 
he should have measured its necessities and have correctly 
ascertained the needs of its expenditures, so that on the one 
hand all might be well done, and on the other none should 
be extravagant; that he should force upon a party iu power 
the measure of such reduction, and should require the Senate 
to agree so nearly to what he thought was wise, demonstrates 
a rare combination of qualities. And this strikes me as the 
act of Mr. Randall's life. No life ever produces one single 
act. It may be that there is one extraordinary transaction, 
one single day, which under the radiance of a peculiar light 
stands conspicuous, but it is consistent with all that went 
before and all that comes afterwards. Mr. Randall had 
been preparing for this very emergency through many years. 
He had been a member of various committees. He for 
many sessions sat upon this floor taking part in its delibera- 
tions; he had been acquainting himself with these details; 
he had become familiar with this body, the most remarkable 
and peculiar body probably in the world; he had learned its 
moods, he had made himself (he master of its rules, and he 
stood prepared, when the emergency came, for .-ill its exigen- 



cies. 



92 Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, on the 

One other memorable act Mr. Randall performed, which 
was also in the interest of the honor and the dignity of the 
House. He was then the leader of its minority. A great 
war had ended. States were under military domination. 
Grave, abstruse, and troublesome questions pressed upon 
Congress. Taking advantage of its rules, rules framed for 
just such a purpose, rules meant to be in the way of unjust 
and hasty legislation, rules meant to give dignity to the 
House, rules meant for the purpose of adding power to its 
deliberations, Mr. Randall, as the leader of the minority, 
demonstrated the value of delay, the power of obstacle, the 
usefulness of the sober second thought. It was another ele- 
vation of the power of the representatives of the people. 

It was not simply Randall standing here in his individual 
capacity. It was the people behind him, clothing him with 
their power, speaking with his utterance that voice of the 
minority which sometimes can make itself heard to compel 
pause before injustice might be done. It was the uplifted 
hand of a helpless people upon the floor of the greatest rep- 
resentative body of freemen asking for further time to be 
heard. And it was through a fit person. He who had been 
a soldier, risking his life; he who had sprung from the loins 
of an educated lawyer, skilled in all the learning of liberty; 
he who had been a man of business, and knew how troublous 
times hurt business and injured the interests of the people; 
he who amid times of temptation and of brazen wealth had 
kept poor; before whose honesty nobody dare offer a bribe 
and to whose integrity no man was bold enough to suggest 
temptation; he, standing in his place, not great probably in 
the learning of the schools, without the gift of persuasive 
eloquence, but with the sturdy courage of a freeman and 
the trained power of a parliamentarian, elevated the minority 
power of this House and gave to the people another evi- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 93 

dence that under a true system of parliamentary rules lib- 
erty was safe, even in the hands of a small minority ably 
and bravely led. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, to-day the thought that presses upon 
me is that a new era of statesmen must come to the front. 
The men who participated in the war are passing away. 
You may call them Kelley, Cox, and Randall, as typical of 
their day and generation; but the generation is passing 
away. The men who fought that war. the men who were 
trained before it came, the men in whose minds olden opin- 
ions and ancient traditions still have lodgment and bear 
fruit in utterance and in act — they are giving way to the 
younger men who are around us. 

As we give up the scepter of command to these younger 
men, standing by the grave of this the most stalwart and 
aggressive of the parliamentarians of his party, what is the 
lesson that we ought to impart as we speak in this Hall this 
afternoon? Is it not that the liberties of the people can be 
preserved only by the representatives of the people in the 
House where their representatives stand, elected at the bal- 
lot box, freely chosen without interference, saying to the 
new generation of statesmen, '"Your ancestors have pre- 
served American institutions in the House of Representa- 
tives. See to it that you do not sacrifice that House and 
thereby lose those institutions. " [Applause.] 



Address of Mr. Kerr, of Pennsylvania 

Mr. Speaker: I do not believe T can add anything to tne 
eulogies that have been so eloquently and impressively pro- 
nounced to-day in the hearing of this House, but as a mem- 
ber of the delegation from Pennsylvania L nevertheless 



!U Address of Mr. Kerr, of Pennsylvania, on the 

desire to add a (dosing word, to drop a single tribute to the 
memory of Samuel Jackson Randall. 

This session of Congress will ever be memorable for the 
number of deaths among its distinguished members. Truly. 
"Death loves a. shining mark." Pennsylvania has lost an- 
other faithful son. and the peopleof the land mourn the loss 
of one of their ablest representatives. 

Mr. Randall's life, publicand private, has been eloquently 
traced by those who preceded me, some of whom have been 
his intimate associates on the floor of this House for over a 
quarter of a, century. 

Mr. Randall was a man of strong convictions and had 
very little consideration for those who were otherwise. He 
was an earnest, faithful, and devoted champion and defender 
of the people's rights, possessing a fund of common sense and 
sound judgment which stood him in good stead in dealing 
with the diversified questions which continually challenged 
his attention. His decisions as Speaker, his reports, official 
papers, and arguments on the floor of the House all bear. 
witness of great diligence, earnest thought, profound and 
exhaustive knowledge of the subject he had in hand. With 
great intellectual qualities he had a sincerity of purpose 
and positive conviction which was restricted by no narrow, 
selfish, or partisan feelings — qualities which commanded for 
him the respect and confidence of all. 

As a representative he consulted the people's interests as 
he would have consulted his own. He was brave, he was 
cautious, he was vigilant, he was honest. His courage and 
sincerity of devotion were the charms of his triumph. As 
a representative of the people he never sought to mislead, 
inflame, or deceive them, and he never trifled with their 
liberties, their rights, or their honor. Seldom surprised 
and never deluded, he was so thoroughly equipped by labor, 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 95 

experience, and study that he was always ready and equal 
to every occasion — a practical, useful, and efficient man. 

The occasion on which I remember last to have seen him 
alive I shall never forget. It was during the debate just 
previous to the adoption of the present rules; a departure 
from well-trodden paths, a reversal of the legislative engine, 
as it were, which created a great interest and excitement 
among the members of the Fifty-first Congress. It was dur- 
ing this time that I visited Mr. Randall. I found him, 
although quite weak, very much interested in the proba- 
ble action of the House. Then and there I was given an in- 
sight into the wonderful power of this remarkable man such 
as I had never appreciated before. Removed from the pas- 
sion and prejudice which seemed to control this body at 
that time, he nevertheless was interested, and anxious that 
the House should not depart from old and well established 
precedent. 

His conversation was like that of a person inspired, and 
I returned to the scene of debate deeply impressed with his 
magnetism and irresistible power which made him such a 
formidable antagonist when on the floor of this House. He 
was an earnest partisan, but never so at the expense of his 
patriotism. He believed in the Democratic party as em- 
bodying the true principle of republican government. Al- 
though during the last few years of his life he wavered be- 
tween the lines of the two great parties on one single issue. 
he was always a Democrat. During the exciting times of 
the civil war and sectional strife he was as firm as a rock. 
During the stormy days of reconstruction he was one of 
the ever-present leadersof a small minority in this body and 
did afaithful work in helping to restore a helpless, broken, 
and discouraged people to peace and self-control under the 
Constitution. 



96 Address of Mr. Kerr, of Pennsylvania, on the 

During the season of reckless extravagance and corrup- 
tion which seemed to take hold of the people with the close 
of the war the character of Samuel Jackson Randall 
as a public man and private citizen was stainless. In an 
age of corruption, sensation, and abuse, no breath of scan- 
dal, however faint, shadowed his good name, and the rec- 
ords of Congress bear permanent and abundant testimony 
to his many battles against wanton and reckless expendi- 
ture of the people's money. A man of the people and for 
the people, he was always an advocate for equal rights and 
exact justice to all, with special privileges to none. 

In a word, the full symmetry of his illustrious career, 
the beauty and grandeur of his character, can be found in 
searching the legislative annals of his country, where the 
impressive lessons of his great and glorious life are stamped 
hi enduring words of truth and soberness. 

What more can be said or done? No better tablet to his 
memory can we erect: "Typical American! Wise and re- 
vered statesman! Honored friend! 7 ' On thy tomb we lay 
the warmest tribute of our hearts. Monuments of stone 
and marble to commemorate thy life will be erected in the 
city you loved, but thy name and fame will live enshrined 
in the hearts of the people, in the hearts of your countrymen, 
long after these have crumbled into dust. 

As a fitting finale to the words that have been spoken, I 
can do no better than to take from his own language, used 
by him in his eulogy on Thomas A. Hendricks. At that 
time true of the distinguished gentleman of Indiana, they 
are peculiarly true of and strikingly a reflection of the 
character of the distinguished gentleman of Pennsylvania 
whom we mourn here to-day. He said of Mr. Hendricks: 

He was tlic embodiment of that old Latin saying, " Mild in maimer, 

resolute in conviction." His ways were gentle and kind, but in a matter 
of right or wrong In' was fixed and immovable. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 97 

No seduction could allure, no terrors frighten him. To duty he was 
fidelity itself . He was easy of approach. He dwelt in the greatest in- 
timacy with his neighbors. He knew the heart-beats of the people. He 
could not be deceived as to their wishes. His gentleness of manner won 
them to his presence and then his bearing, firmness, honesty, fidelity, 
and logic bound them to him. As he was greater than others individ- 
ually by whom he was surrounded, so, too, he was always stronger 
than any jiolitical organization to which he was attached. He was a 
devoted student of the principles of our republican form of govern- 
ment. He anchored his hope in their preservation in their pristine 
integrity. He beheved that our liberties were secure only when all ten- 
dency to parental government and toward centralization was resisted and 
destroyed. 

Loyalty to his country was the key to his whole character, 
for he was loyal and true in every relation in life. Against 
the integrity of Mr. Randall no tongue has uttered a word. 
His fame as an honest man is unsullied by even a suspicion. 
He was ever true to himself, to his honor. No temptation 
beguiled to venality, and no dishonest dollar touched the 
palm of his hand. 

In these times, when vice apparently yields more revenue 
than virtue, when fortunes are readily obtained without 
honest labor, and money, not merit, wins position and power, 
a man who lives an honest and upright life is worthy the 
admiration of men. 

It is these virtues far more than genius that make our late 
colleague worthy of the highest praise this day bestowed. 
He has indeed left a life-count well closed, without one blot 
or stain to mar its fair page, in every relation of life proving 
himself in the highest and best sense a man. Firm and 
sincere in his convictions, true to his friends, liberal toward 
his opponents, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, 
a patriot and a Christian, he surely deserved, and doubtless 
has received, the final decree of the Judge of all living, 
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 
H. Mis. 205 7 



98 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, on the 



ADDRESS OF MR, MCADOO, OF NEW JERSEY. 

Mr. Speaker : We stand in the shadow of a great name. 
We pay a tribute of honor and respect to an immortal mem- 
ory. Samuel Jackson Randall, the intense and devoted 
American, the loyal and loving Pennsylvanian, the tribune 
of the people, the faithful friend, the invincible leader, the 
unstained, unscathed, long-tried public servant, the proud, 
self-respecting man, the humble, trusting Christian, has 
passed from the highest courts of earthly honor to the au- 
gust temples of heavenly glory, from the circles of domestic 
happiness and affection to the unbounded realms of infinite 
love and eternal felicity. 

It was my good fortune t<> share the confidence and friend- 
si up of Mr. Randall from my first appearance here, and 
thus to get some slight insight as to his convictions and 
character. 

Like all men cast in bold, rugged, and heroic mold, and 
destined to play chief parts in great events, he was essen- 
tially natural, simple, and childlike in his intercourse with 
his friends. That splendid face, chiseled in strong, classic 
lines, would melt into tenderness and unaffected interest at 
the prattle of a child or the warm clasp of a friendly hand; 
and those soulful eyes, which could flash the fire of scorn 
and determination on an enemy, would dim in deep sympa- 
thy at the tale of sorrow or misfortune. 

Mr. Randall had all the qualities of a leader of men. 
Placed anywhere, he would naturally and without effort be 
looked up to as counselor and leader. An attractive per- 
sonality, indomitable courage, great prudence, eminently 
practical, and with intense and immovable convictions, 



Life and C 'haractcr of Samuel J. Randall. 99 

other men came to him as streams seek the sea. I have in 
many cases known men to come here with violent antipathies 
to his ideas on public questions, and yet in the course of a 
few weeks without in any way yielding up their own opin- 
ions become his warmest admirers and friends. 

I have alluded to his qualities of leadership, and I may 
here repeat what I often said to himself and what I yet 
believe, that with his foresight, invincible determination, 
tremendous staying powers, careful consideration of his fol- 
lowers, faithful attention to details, and instinctive knowl- 
edge of the weak points in an enemy, had he been edu- 
cated to or followed the profession of arms he would in case 
of war have been one of the world's great soldiers. 

The bent of his mind was concentrative and direct rather 
than speculative. One demonstrated fact was of more value 
to him than all the speculations of philosophhy. While 
possessed of a great fund of knowledge and ripe in his ex- 
perience with men, he was more a man of action than a man 
of the library. He valued means by their results. On what 
he considered the proven and apparent facts he stood as on 
a rock beset by the tempestuous waves of conflicting opin- 
ions. From the central and main question he made few 
excursions into the by-paths of collateral issues. This did 
not arise from either timidity, lack of mental grasp, or 
narrowness of vision, but from an eminent conservatism 
and an intense desire for action thai would, show results. 
The world to him was a real world, calling for action, vigi- 
lance, devotion to duty. To know anything was. with him, 
to know it thoroughly to the smallest details. Patiently, 
laboriously, faithfully, perseveringly he mastered the whole 
vast enginery of this Government in its general scope and 
in its minutest particulars. His generalship, his tact, his 
patience, his inexhaustible knowledge, displayed in the 



100 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, on the 

passage of a great appropriation bill, were most remark- 
able. 

No man knew so well as Mr. Randall when to speak and 
when to be silent, when to reply to criticism and when, 
without word from him, to let the House judge for itself as 
to its merits and fairness. Although he was at heart a very- 
proud and sensitive man, he could sit as calmly as a sculp- 
tured Ajax, and defy by his very silence the bitterest and 
most personal attacks. The strong, determined, well-chis- 
eled face, with its fine expressive eyes, would look sternly, 
but calmly, into the excited countenance of the impassioned 
critic. But, if he did reply, his opponent would long have 
occasion to remember the occurrence. The speech was short, 
the sentences few, but each word struck home like the blow 
of a sledge hammer. For the time being, a veritable Thor 
was swinging his huge iron maul, crashing its way with- 
thunderous noise through opposing obstacles. The man 
who swings this monster mallet can not play with it all day 
to divert himself, as gentlemen of the light sword are wont; 
in deep impressive silence must he store up the prodigious 
force to send this great irresistible body whirling through 
mid-air; patient, too. he must be, deaf to taunts and chal- 
lenges from hosts of ambitions champions, who, in tin; 
world's warrings, play their part, no doubt, well, but with 
whom he can have no quarrel, his place and mission being so 
different from theirs. Many men may man the bellows and 
stir the coals and prepare the iron, but when it is heated only 
Thor himself can rain down these crashing thunder-strokes. 

As the term is commonly used Mr. Randall, was not an 
orator, but if intense earnestness of manner, terse, vigorous, 
expressive phrases, rugged, direct, positive statement of 
convictions constitute eloquence, then he never failed to be 
eloquent and impressive. I judge that to those who always 



Life crnd Character of Samuel J. Randall. 101 

associate graceful and pleasing- oratory with Congressional 
leadership he was at first view disappointing, but even to 
them he soon revealed his great and unusual powers and 
they soon felt the all-pervading influence of that strong and 
forceful personality. A deep, sincere, forceful, aggressively 
honest nature, voicing in tones naturally attractive and 
pleasant the intensity of its convictions, needed little of the 
arts of rhetoric. He seemed to care little for his manner, 
which was simple, natural, and elementary, and to be con- 
cerned wholly for the matter. He seemed at times to be 
limited in his vocabulary, and would use two or three times 
in a short address the phrases which he found most expres- 
sive. I do not think this really arose from any lack of flow of 
words, but that he was much averse to using many, and seized 
readily on those that most quickly and fully expressed the 
thought that was in him. He would seize a single word 
that conveyed his meaning and hurl it like a javelin true to 
his aim. He was at times very happy in his replies, as is 
well known. 

Mr. Randall's whole course in public and private life 
was based on great fundamental principles which to him 
represented the substance of truth, and to these lines he 
rigidly and sternly adhered. He was not oblivious to criti- 
cism, but he lived without and above it, and so long as he 
had the approval of his reason and his conscience it never 
entered his mind to regard it in the slightest. He was 
always fair and manly to his opponents and fought them in 
the open field, asking no favors. He was withal a master 
of that strategy which wins in war and politics. He fre- 
quently followed the tactics of allowing the enemy to ex- 
haust himself and then swiftly and overwhelmingly crush 
him. Nothing could divert him from the main purpose he 
had in view. He wasted no energies on minor matters, but 



102 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of .Yew Jersey, on the 

made all roads lead to the desired end. It does not follow 
from this that he rode a hobby or narrowed his sphere of 
action here. On the contrary, he participated in the general 
business of the House with rare zeal and fidelity, and when 
in health was a most faithful attendant in its sessions, 
sitting calmly erect, vigilant, and self-possessed in his ac- 
customed seat. 

He was the best friend of the new member, especially the 
young man coming here for the first time. He was a rare 
good judge of men, and his friendship never slept, so that 
unknown to his friends he was constantly aiding them and 
studying their interest. He was as solicitous about the suc- 
cess of his friends, as all who in Congress were honored with 
his friendship can testify, as a mother about her children. 
To them he would write when away from here the kindest 
letters, in which his deep and hearty interest in them was 
most felicitously expressed, and which always conveyed 
pointed and practical advice. He was never too busy or en- 
grossed to serve his friends, and he would not hesitate at any 
time to step into the breach for them. His deep, earnest 
friendship and" intense sense of gratitude were among his 
strongest traits. His friendship would sacrifice everything 
but his integrity and convictions. 

It is a tame phrase to say that he was honest. He was 
more than that: he was not only conventionally honest, but 
he had enlisted for life in a deadly war against dishonesty 
in all forms. His best friend could come to him and ask 
anything, if only his hands were clean and his heart pure 
and his purpose honest, but he was justice personified to 
friend and foe when a shadow of impure motives rested on 
them. " Yon must not speak to me about that bill," he said 
sternly to a friend who ventured to ask his aid for a pend- 
ing measure. " It is a bad bill, and I shall do everything I 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 103 

can to defeat it." He had little patience with self-seekers 
who approached him with fulsome flattery, and generally, 
with due regard to politeness, brought such interviews to a 
speedy and final termination. He was always willing to give 
a fair hearing to all who approached him, having no regard 
to person, but hated wordy circumlocution and always in- 
sisted on getting at the very heart of the matter as soon as 
possible. He was, on the other hand, infinitely patient with 
the honest and inexperienced in distress and needing his 

aid. 

He always rose to the occasion. Who can ever forget 
the passage of the bill for the benefit of General Grant, then 
on his dying bed ? The clock ticked the seconds to the dis- 
solution of the Forty-eighth Congress. Without, great 
hosts of jubilant citizens awaited the climax in a peaceful 
revolution in government. Within, clamor and bustle and 
confusion on every hand. Then the master hand of Samuel 
Jackson Randall seized the discordant elements and 
molded them to his will, stilled the angry sea of acrimonious 
debate, and directed the waters as he wished. By his skill 
and sheer force of character he had seized this vast enginery 
rushing wildly in the confusion of the closing hours of a 
Congress preceding the inauguration of a Chief Executive, 
and when political passions and prejudices were fiercest, di- 
rected it, when every second was precious and big with fate, 
into executing an act pregnant with sentiment and of national 
and universal importance. 

Mr. Randall was a true friend to the South and its peo- 
ple. He took a deep and abiding interest in the growth and 
development of that section, and nothing so rejoiced him as 
the phenomenal progress made in utilizing its great mineral 
wealth. I had the honor to accompany him in 1885 on a tour 
through portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, 



104 Address of Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, on the 

and it was gratifying to see the esteem and affection enter- 
tained for him by the citizens of those States. Those who 
differed with him on the economic questions of the day were 
as enthusiastic and friendly as those who agreed with him, for 
all remembered with deep gratitude his noble and successful 
fight for the people of the South when sectional passions 
were still hot and partisan prejudices intense. His manly 
bearing and noble simplicity of manners charmed all who 
met him, and, in return, the continuous ovations of a warm- 
hearted people lingered with him as a sweet memory to his 
latest moment. '"I want to see these States in the great 
mineral region of the South outstrip, if possible, even my 
own State of Pennsylvania,"' was a constant remark of his 
on that tour. He was always enthusiastic and sanguine as 
to the future of the people of the Southern States and as to 
their ability and patriotism to solve the great questions com- 
mitted to them, and, in return, some of the evidences of 
their regard for him were touching in the affection they ex- 
pressed. I well remember how, in the early dawn of the 
morning, at a little station in the mountains of Alabama, a 
horseman rode up to the train, having ridden many miles in 
the night, to present to him a great wreath of flowers, made 
up by the ladies of the locality, and having attached to it a 
card expressing the esteem and gratitude of the women of 
the South. Only Omniscience can tell how many moments 
and weary hours of pain were soothed by the consciousness 
of the affection in which he was held by his countrymen, 
nor how much the sting of death was removed by the memo- 
ries of a useful and honorable life. 

( )f Mr. Randall's home life it is sufficient to say that it 
was worthy of the man. Love, honor, truth, all the domes- 
tie virtues, gathered around the family board, and his pri- 
vate life in its simplicity and anaffectedness recalled the 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 105 

lives of the great fathers of the Republic. To his faithful 
companion, the true and noble woman who had shared his 
sorrows and his joys for so many years, the loving and un- 
selfish wife, he was always simple and obedient as a child, 
and he struggled with his latest breath to call by the dear- 
est of terms—" mother. " To this noble and stricken woman 
the deep gratitude and sympathy of the Republic goes fori h 
in no mean measure. The laurel wreaths laid on the grave 
of her husband will outlive many such won in the Held of 
war, and his services to his country were much greater than 
those of many heroes whose deeds were done under the in- 
toxicating excitement of physical conflict in the pursuit of 
military glory. 

A truer man never sat in the Congress of the United 
States. Pennsylvania never reared a more loyal and de- 
voted son. Proud of her history, faithful to her interests, 
he rested secure in the love and respect of her people, and 
withal, in the broadest and best sense, a grand type of 
Ameri an citizen, knowing no confines or geographical limi- 
tations to his patriotism. In his power and influence the 
oak towering on the mountain- top above its fellows, in his 
integrity the unimpressionable rock washed by the turbu- 
lent waters of the ocean, his character and example remain 
to his countrymen as stimulative to honorable lives, noble 
deeds, fraternal good feeling, devotion to duty and to coun- 
try. For some time before he withdrew from active duty in 
the House, and while as yet his physical weakness was not 
generally known, he intimated to his nearest friends that 
he was engaged in conflict with a disease. He entered this 
last dread conflict for life cheerfully, determined, and 
even sanguine, as was characteristic of him in all contests. 
He was, in truth, although not demonstrative of it, deep 
down in his heart, at all times a deeply reverential and. in 



10fi Address of Mr. Hohiuai, of Indiana, o>i the 

the best sense, a religious man, and his last open confession 
of his faith was, I believe, made in the hope that it might 
influence his fellow-men. Patiently, without a murmur, 
anxious only for the good he might do, he waited cheerfully 
the summons to pass into " the better country." Oh, big. 
brave man, thy day's work so well done, the approaching 
night found thee without fear, cheerfully going to thy home 
in the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 



Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 

Mr. Speaker: After many years of close association with 
Samuel J. Randall in the House of Representatives, in 
entire sympathy with him on most of the questions of pub- 
lic poljcy which have agitated our country during the last 
twenty-five years, and highly appreciating his integrity as 
a man and his ability as a statesman, I wish to add some 
words of affectionate remembrance to the record which Con- 
gress will order to be made in commemoration of his public 
services. 

A I r. Randall entered the House of Representatives in the 
midst of the late war a Democrat with unfaltering devotion 
to the cause of the Union. His political associates were in 
the minority and did not in any material degree influence 
the course of legislation. In a time of war legislative ma- 
jorities adopt the methods of the camp; it is a period for ac- 
tion and not for debate. I had been a member for several 
years before Mr. Randall entered the House, and while in 
the earlier period of his service he took but little part in the 
business of the House, yet he displayed from the beginning 
the vigilant attention to current legislation, the solicitude 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall . 107 

for the public welfare, the sincere patriotism, so indispensa- 
ble to an honorable career in a Government like ours. 

Mr. Randall soon became familiar with the rules of Leg- 
islative procedure, but it was some time b -fore he dis- 
played the thorough knowledge of public affairs and capac- 
ity for leadership which in later years were to place him in 
the foremost ranks of our public men. It was not until the 
last session of the Forty-third Congress that an occasion 
arose in the House demanding united action and skillful 
leadership on the part of the minority, when the measure of 
that period known as the "force bill" was being pressed to 
its passage by the powerful majority. Mr. Randall laid 
already acquired such standing in the House as an accom- 
plished master of parliamentary law, as a gentleman pru- 
dent in method and unfaltering in purpose, that his political 
associates without hesitation recognized his leadership. 
This parliamentary contest involved the gravest interests 
and was. one of the most prolonged and exciting that has 
ever occurred in our history. The measure was defeated. 

This event secured to Mr. Randall the confidence and 
kindly feeling of all of his political associates, and especially 
of Representatives of the States of the South. That he was 
not elected Speaker of the House at the opening of the 
Forty-fourth Congress was attributed to the fad that Mr. 
Kerr, his strongest competitor, a gentleman of high attain- 
ments and great ability, had, as a legislator, rendered the 
country and the States of the South services of especial 
value during the period of reconstruction. It soon appeared 
that this result was best for the country and best for Mr. 
Randall's permanent reputation. 

As soon as the Forty-fourth Congress was organized .Air. 
Randall became the chairman of the Committee on Appro- 
priations. By courtesy the chairman of the Committee on 



108 . Xddress of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, on the 

\V;iys and Means, the older committee, has been nominally 
the leader of the House, but ever since the Committee on 
Appropriations was established its chairman has been the 
real leader of the Honse; this was never more manifest than 
in the Forty-fourth Congress. 

It was during the Forty-fourth Congress that Mr. Ran- 
dall, as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, 
won his great reputation and changed the administration of 
the Government. The late war and the inevitable inflation 
of the currency had led to an alarming extravaganc i in 
every department of Government. It seemed almost im- 
possible to reduce the profligate expenditures of a period of 
war to their proper and natural condition in a time of peace. 
The party in power, whatever might have been the views of 
its leading men of the necessity of retrenchment, was 
absolutely powerless. The great army of superfluous em- 
ployes found shelter under the Senators and Representa- 
tives from their respective States and districts ; years had 
elapsed since the close of the war, yet the appropriations 
demanded by the great Departments of Government were 
substantially unchanged . 

Mr. Randall and his committee determined to reduce 
the appropriations to the sums actually required by the 
Departments for the efficient performance of the duties im- 
posed on them by law. 

With the House Democratic, Senate and Executive Repub- 
lican, there was a fierce conflict from the beginning. That 
first session of the Forty-fourth Congress, a long session for 
that period, was almost entirely employed on the appropria- 
tion bills. Months were occupied on the leading appropriation 
bills by the conferees of the two Houses, especially on the 
bill involving the number and compensation of the em- 
ployes if the great Departments. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 109 

Such a struggle to reduce the public expenditures to the 
actual necessities of the public service has never occurred in 
our history. There was no thought of embarrassing any of 
the Departments of the Government, but a determination 
that the expenditures should be reduced to the reasonable 
requirements of the public service. After months of contro- 
versy between the two Houses over the great appropriation 
bills, the appropriations of the first session of the Forty- 
fourth Congress were reduced $29,131,362.51 below those 
made by the corresponding session of the preceding Con- 
gress. The result was exceedingly gratifying to Mr. Ran- 
dall's political associates, and arrested the attention and 
received the approval of the country in a very marked de- 
gree. 

Before the meeting of the second session of the Forty- 
fourth Congress, the lamented death of Michael C. Kerr, 
Speaker of the House, occurred, and on the first Monday of 
December, 1870, Samuel J. Randall was elected Speaker. 
As the member present who had served in the House for 
the longest period. I administered to him the oath of office. 
I shall never forget the unconscious expression of absolute 
confidence of Samuel J. Randall, then in the vigor of per- 
fect manhood, when he took up the gavel and entered upon 
the duties of that great office, which he filled with ever-in- 
creasing honor until the close of the Forty-sixth Congress, 
when the Republican party obtained the control of the 
House. 

The expression of public confidence in the Democratic 
party in the great political contest of L876 was in a large 
measure due to the statesmanship displayed by Mr. Ran- 
dall during that memorable session. Isucceeded Mr. Ran- 
dall as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and 
on the line of policy which he had marked out the appropri- 



II" . Iddress of Mr. Holman, of Indiana^ on tJic 

ations made by the second session of that Congress were 
$34, 574,059. 67 less than those of the corresponding session of 
the preceding Congress, making the appropriations of the 
Forty-fourth Congress $63,705,423.18 less than those made 
by the next preceding Congress, a sum exceeding the entire 
expenditure of the Government during any year preceding 
the late war. 

It was noticed by all men who carefully observe the course 
of our public affairs that this radical retrenchment of ex- 
penditures increased the efficiency of the administration of 
the Government because it purified and elevated the morals 
and spirit of the public service in every one of its depart- 
ments. Public spirit took the place of mercenary designs. 

I have dwelt on this portion of the public record of Sam- 
uel J. Randall because his successful efforts in reducing 
the expenditures of the Government secured to him the con- 
fidence of the country and was the foundation of his great 
reputation, and for another reason; when, at a later period, 
the question of revenue reform arose Mr. Randall was not 
in accord with his political associates; he, in common with 
most of tlic statesmen Pennsylvania has produced, was an 
earnest friend of a tariff for protection, while his political 
associates generally favored a tariff for revenue; but as the 
champion of pure and honest government he was the great 
leader of his party to the last, and here rests his great and 
well-earned reputation as a statesman. He believed that 
however the wealth of the country might increase, if the 
Government remained frugal, the Republic was secure; that 
frugal government could alone secure honest government; 
that without frugality in the administration of government, 
corruption of its greal departments was inevitable, and he 
struggled to the last for frugal and honest government. 

Mr. Randall as Speaker of the House was courteous and 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 1 1 1 

firm and always impartial; if ever arbitrary it was in sup- 
port of his leading idea of American statesmanship, the main- 
tenance of purity and honesty in the administration of the 
Government. 

His rugged and inborn integrity kept him always in line 
of public duty. He was an intense partisan, but from this 
line of public duty the interests of his party could not 
swerve him a tithe of a hair. 

Whatever may be said of the temptations to which public 
men are exposed it is absolutely safe to assert that no man 
ever approached Mr. Randall with a suggestion in public 
affairs not honorable to his country and to himself. 

The iron firmness he displayed in carrying out the act of 
Congress in the contested Presidential election of 187G was 
a true index to his character. In the tumnlts of that period, 
fiercely assailed by his political friends, he did not falter a 
moment in the enforcement of the law. No statesman of 
our country has ever displayed greater fortitude in the ful- 
fillment of a public duty. 

Until the question of the tariff, which for years has been 
suspended by pressing demands for revenue incident to the 
late war, came to the front, as was inevitable sooner or later. 
Mr. Randall was not only the leader of the House, but. 
beyond that, largely influenced the course of public events. 
On the question of tariff as a protection to American labor 
Mr. Randall was immovable; he stood firmly by his con- 
stituents and his State. ' 

His differing with the* body of his political associates on 
that one issue stood in the way of his reaching tile firsl office 
in the gift of the Republic. It was an obstacle that could 
not be surmounted, although he was urged for that great 
office by a .large body of political friends. On thai issue he 
ceased to be Speaker of the House, yet retained by universal 



112 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana, on the 

consent the high position of chairman of its greatest com- 
mittee while his party remained in power. 

While it is easy to delineate the character of Samuel J. 
Randall, yet it is impossible to express in words the magic 
power by which he influenced the opinions and conduct of 
great bodies of men. It can only be said Samuel J. Ran- 
dall was a born leader. Men gathered around him and felt 
perfectly safe in following his leadership. An absolute cer- 
tainty of the integrity of his purpose and soundness of Ids 
judgment perhaps explain all this. His speeches, always 
brief, delivered in a clear and distinct voice, were marked 
by positiveness and force rather than polish of expression. 
He made no effort at elegance of style, no embellishment and 
no ambiguity, but a clear, strong, and forcible statement of 
the matter in hand, and always addressed to the point at 
issue. Almost always he carried the House with him. 

In domestic and social life he was all gentleness and affec- 
tion. His face, perfect in its classic outline, although strong 
and massive, expressed kindness and benevolence; his man- 
ners were engaging; he was the very soul of magnanimity, 
as was often seen in his controversies in the House. Inci- 
dents that occurred in the Forty-eighth Congress illustrated 
his character as displayed outside of severe public duty. On 
the 3d day of A] nil. 1884, General Grant for the last time 
entered this Hall and took a seat in the space outside of the 
seats on the east side of the Chamber, the Democratic side 
of the House. Some years had elapsed since General Grant 
had honored the House with his presence. Mr. Randall 
and other members gathered around him. It was more than 
a year before his death, yet in the face and deportment of 
General Grant there was an expression of weariness and 
despondency. Mr. Randall promptly moved that the 
House take a recess to enable the members "to take by the 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 1 13 

hand" the illustrious visitor, and Mr. Randall and Mr. 
Carlisle, the Speaker of the House, escorted him to the open 
space in front of the Speaker's seat, and then all the mem- 
bers shook hands with the illustrious citizen. 

How pleasant it was to see the careworn and despondent 
expression of his face disappear before the cordial greeting 
of the representatives of the people of his country! And I 
must recall the event later on, when on the 3d day of March, 
1885, in the midst of one of the fiercest tumults I have ever 
witnessed in this Hall, hundreds of members at the same 
time fiercely demanding recognition for special measures (as 
at 12 o'clock the next day Congress expired), Mr. Randall, 
with a force absolutely irresistible, carried through the lull 
restoring General Grant to the head of the Army with hon- 
orable retirement, and who of all the members of the House 
and of all our people, when General Grant died a few months 
later, did not rejoice that that was done? Who shall say 
how this last expression of a nation's gratitude and affection 
consoled the last hours of the great chieftain? And who 
shall say how these and countless other generous and kindly 
acts of Samuel J. Randall during his well-employed life 
consoled his spirit as in his last hours the shadows gathered 
around him? 

Mr. Randall was devoted to his home. He loved his 
wife and children and friends, and found his chief enjoyment 
in the sacred circle of his fireside. The last time I saw Mr. 
Randall I was impressed more than ever with this trail of 
his character. He was pale and emaciated, and I felt was 
conscious that he would never again appear on the greal 
theater where he had won the admiration and confidence of 
his countrymen; yet he displayed an anxious solicitude for 
his country, and my heart was touched by the interest he 
felt and expressed in the welfare of his friends. Samuel J. 
H. Mis. 265 8 



114 Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 

Randall is dead. A great and good man is fallen. But 
how consoling the divine assurance that what we call death 
only opens to the freed spirit of the just and the good the 
highway to a life immortal. 

Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania. In further respect to our 
deceased fellow-member, I move that the House do now 
adjourn. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Pennsylvania moves 
that, as a further mark of respect to the memory of Samuel 
J. Randall, the House do now adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to. 

Accordingly (at 4 o'clock audio minutes p. m.) the House 
adjourned until Monday, June 16, at VI o'clock m. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH, 



April 14, 1890. 

A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. Mc- 
Plierson, its Clerk, conveyed to the Senate the intelligence of 
the death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, late a member of the 
House of Representatives from the State of Pennsylvania, 
and transmitted the resolutions of the House thereon. 

Mr. Cameron. I ask that the resolution just received from 
the House of Representatives be read. 

The Vice President laid before the Senate the resolutions 
of the House of Representatives, and they were read, as fol- 
lows: 

In the House of Representatives. April 14. 1890. 

Resolved, That the House has heard with deep regret and prof, mud sor- 
row of the death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, late a Representative from 
the .State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That a committee of nine members of the House, with such 
members of the Senate as may he joined, be appointed to attend the 
funeral of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the House do now adjourn. 

In accordance with the above the Speaker announced the appointment 

of the following as members of the said committee: 

Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania: Mr. Carlisle, of Kentucky; Mr. Banner, 
of Pennsylvania; Mr. Holman, of Indiana: Mr. Cannon, of Illinois: Mr. 
Forney, of Alabama; Mr. McKinley, of Ohio; Mr. Springer, of Qlinois; 
Mr. Reilly. of Pennsylvania. 

"5 



1 1 1; . Xnnouncement of Death. 

Mr. Cameron. Mr. President, I feel sure that the an- 
nouncement which has just been made of the death of my 
late distinguished colleague, Hon. Samuel J. Randall, will 
produce sincere sorrow in the heart of every member of the 
Senate, irrespective of party. I offer the following resolu- 
tions: 

Resolved. That the Senate has heard with deep regret and profound 
sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, 
late a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Penn- 
svhania. 

Resolved. That the Senate concur in the resolution of the House of 
Representatives providing for the appointment of a committee to attend 
the funeral of the deceased, and that the committee on the part of the 
Senate, to consist of five Senators, be appointed by the Vice President. 

The Vice President. The question is on the adoption of 
the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Pennsylvania. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

The Vice President. The Chair appoints as members of 
the committee on the part of the Senate to attend the funeral 
of the late Mr. Randall, the Senator from Pennsylvania 
[Mr. Quay] , the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Allison] , the Senator 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Dawes], the Senator from Indiana 
[Mr. Voorhees], and the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Eustis]. 

Mr. Cameron. I offer the following resolution: 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased the Senate do now adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to unanimously; and the Senate 
adjourned. 



Eulogies. 117 



EULOGIES. 

September 13, 1890. 

Mr. Quay. Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed 
to the consideration of the resolutions of the House of Rep- 
resentatives in relation to the death of Hon. Samuel J. Ran- 
dall. 

The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Pennsylvania 
moves that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the 
resolutions of the House of Representatives touching the 
death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall. The question is on 
agreeing to the motion. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The Presiding Officer. The resolutions of the House of 
Representatives will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

In the House op Representatives, April 14, 1890. 

Resolved. That the House has heard with deep regret and profound 
sorrow of the death of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, late a Representative 
from the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved. That the House do now adjourn. 

Mr. Quay. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I 
send to the desk. 

The Presiding Officer. The resolutions submitted by 
the Senator from Pennsylvania will be read. 

The resolutions were read, as follows: 

Resolved. That the Senate has heard with prof ound sorrow of the death 
of Hon. Samuel J. Randall, late a member of the House of Representa- 
tives from the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended in order 
that fitting tribute may be paid to his memory. 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate shall, at the 
conclusion of these ceremonies, adjourn. 



118 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the 



ADDRESS OF MR. QUAY, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

M r. President: My relations, social, political, and official, 
to the statesman whom the Senate honors to-day were not 
so intimate as those of other gentlemen on either side of 
this Chamber, who are better fitted to bear tribute to his 
worth. Always he was my political opponent, and I come 
here to cast the myrtle on his grave, not as a close associate 
and friend, but as a representative of the great State he 
served so long and loved so well, bearing to his memory 
what is its due. Those of us in Pennsylvania who met him 
in political hostility recognized him as the heart and core 
of the opposition to us. 

In the process of attrition, which the Democratic party 
of Pennsylvania, has suffered, we found him always as the 
rock of our offense. Yet. so true, so honest, so courageous. 
so absolutely chivalrous was he that there is not one of us 
who, standing beside his coffin, did not realize the thought 
of the witch-bound champion of Scott's legend: 

I'd give the lauds of Deloraine. 
Dark Musgrave were alive again. 

There is not one of us who does not believe that if it is 
given to our immortal natures to revisit the scenes we love 
on earth, his shade walks regal and distinguished among all 
the viewless hosts of the great that troop these halls and 

corridors to-day. 

He was the soul of his party in Pennsylvania, and his 
passingwas Like tin' passing of his party in that State. All 
his days hewasthe leader of a forlorn hope. Yet it was de- 
creed that after his life had put on its funeral shade he was 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. IP.) 

first to encounter the experience which is not uncommon to 
public men of independent thought. In the collision of 
principle within the lines of his own party, he differed with 
its prevailing sentiment and was abandoned unto himself. 
He saw those whom he created turn, like the creature of 
Frankenstein, to be his torture, and the friends of a lifetime 
fell away from him as leaves fall from the dying oak. Yet 
he swerved not from his path and faltered not in his devo- 
tion to his faith. 

His life was a life of struggle, toil, and battle. It was de- 
voted to his country according to the light which God had 
shown him. This seems the dispensation of nature, or na- 
ture's God, that to one whose mission is to serve his fellow- 
men it is not given to wander in pleasant meadows and to lie 
down at the end where roses bloom. 

The record of Mr. Randall's life is a record of industry. 
Industry and firmness were his most prominent character- 
istics. They stand out in relief in every line of the plain 
story of his career. His earlier years gave little indication 
of his later achievements. He first addressed himself to 
business pursuits. Thence he was diverted into the calling 
of a soldier, and it was while still bearing arms for his coun- 
try that he was called to Congress, thus entering at last. 
after many vicissitudes, upon the public career to which 
destiny led him, and in which his industry, his firmness, his 
political sagacity, and his shining integrity won him such 
distinction. 

His ancestry was distinctively Pennsylvanian. His grand- 
father, Matthew Randall, was. nearly a century ago, pro- 
thonotary of the court of common pleas in Philadelphia. 
His father. Josiah Randall, was a distinguished member of 
the Philadelphia bar at a time when its roll included such 
men as Binney, Sergeant, Chaiincey, and the [ngersolls. 



120 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the 

Although Josiah Randall never held office, with the excep- 
tion of a term in the legislature, he was extremely active 
in politics and in such public affairs as the public meeting 
which passed resolutions commending the French Revolu- 
tion and the expulsion of the Bourbons ; another meeting 
where the leaders of public opinion pledged themselves to 
the cause of the United States in the Mexican war ; in the 
movement for the consolidation of the city of Philadelphia 
and the surrounding districts, and as president at the ban- 
quet tendered to James Buchanan in 1856 on his return from 
the court of St. James. 

Samuel Jackson Randall was born in the shadow of 
Independence Hall, October 10, 1828. He was educated at 
the University Academy on Fourth street. There are tra- 
ditions respecting his schoolboy days of universal interest. 
It is said of him that he was even at this early period of his 
life distinguished among his fellows for that self-reliance 
and firmness which were his prominent characteristics as a 
man. He had only this academic, education. 

After leaving this school he went into the countingroom 
of a silk merchant, on Market street, where he remained 
several years. With the heads of many of the old firms on 
the street he became a general favorite because of his strict 
attention to business, and it seemed to be settled that he was 
to be known only as a business man. Impatient of working 
for others, he left the silk business and established the firm 
of Randall & Meredith, coal dealers. At that time the 
young coal merchant began to take part in local politics. 
He lived in a part of the city then known as the " Locust 
ward," and in 1852 he became a candidate for common coun- 
cil, and was elected as a Whig. 

When the Whigparty perished, the Randall family, father 
and sons, went over to the Democracy. Joshua Randall had 



■f 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 121 

long been an admirer of Buchanan, presiding, as has been 
said, at a banquet in his honor in 1850, and in 1850 he and 
his sons, Samuel and Robert, went to the Cincinnati con- 
vention to aid in securing Buchanan's nomination. 

In 1858, Mr. Randall was elected to the Pennsylvania 
senate. In 1860, both Randall brothers were presented for 
the legislature, Samuel to the senate and Robert for the 
house. Their father advised against their candidacy. 
"There is too much Randall on this ticket," he is reported 
to have said, and his prediction was correct, for both were 
defeated. 

For a time he was diverted from politics. At the out- 
break of the war the First Troop. Philadelphia City Cav- 
alry, an organization dating from the Revolution, offered 
its services to the Government. Mr. Randall was sergeant 
of the troop, which was mustered into service May 13, 1861, 
for three months, by special order of the War Department. 
They were first sent to Carlisle, where they were attached 
to the command of Col. George H. Thomas. The troop 
aided in the repulse of the enemy at Falling Waters, and 
on July 3 entered Martinsburgh, and afterwards advanced 
to Harper's Ferry. Thence they were ordered hack to Phil- 
adelphia and mustered out of service. 

Mr. Randall took no further part in the war until Lee's 
invasion of Pennsylvania. There was now little left of the 
original City Troop, hut the ranks were filled by recruits 
and placed under the command of Captain Randall. The 
troop was ordered to Gettysburg!] on skirmish duty, and 
Avere driven hack across the Susquehanna to Columbia, 
bringing the first accurate news of the force and aims of the 
invasion. At this lime Captain Randall was appointed 
provost marshal <»t' Columbia, and in the confusion reign- 
ing there in anticipation of the arrival of the enemy his 






122 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the 

strict military rule was effective in the preservation of 
order. 

While in the military service of the Government Mr. Ran- 
dall wrote to the War Department suggesting the promo- 
tion of Colonel Thomas, and his advice had much to do with 
the advancement -_>f that great soldier. Long afterward his 
influence in this promotion came to light, and when the 
monument to General Thomas was unveiled in Washington. 
in L879, Mr. Randall took a conspicuous part in the cere- 
monies. 

While Captain Randall was serving his country in the 
field he was called to serve it in the forum. After the re- 
treat of Lee across the Potomac Randall returned to Phil- 
adelphia to accept his first election to Congress from the 
First district of Pennsylvania. It has been generally for- 
gotten that he won the nomination in the district against 
Hon. Richard Vaux, who is now his successor. The bound- 
aries of the old First district and of the present Third were 
nearly the same, and the wards composing it have always 
been strongly Democratic. From the time of his first elec- 
tion, in 1862, until his last election, in 1888, Mr. Randall 
had little difficulty in being returned continuously to Con- 
gress. 

He early became known as a hard-working and conscien- 
tious member. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was upon 
the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds: in the 
Thirty-ninth, upon the Committees on Banking and Cur- 
rency, and Retrenchment, and Expenditures in the State 
Department; in the Fortieth, upon the Committees on Bank- 
ing and Currency, Retrenchment, and the Assassination of 
President Lincoln; in the Forty-first, upon the Committee 
on Privileges and Elections, and Expenditures in the Treas- 
ury Department, and upon the Joint Committee on Expend- 
itures. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 123 

This record indicates that during the early years of his 
service in Congress his advancement was not rapid, but con- 
stant, and based upon his devotion to business rather than 
to debate. His speeches were brief ami pointed, and he 
made no Long arguments upon minor questions. With him. 
when he first came to Washington, were a number of 
others just entering upon the stage of national affairs and 
destined to become prominent in public life. Among those 
were James G. Blaine, the late President Garfield. John A. 
Kasson, John A. J. Creswell, William R. Morrison, and 
William B. Allison. 

In his b;ok, Twenty Years of Congress. Mr. Blaine gives 
the following estimate of Mr. Randall: 

He is a strong partisan, with many elements of leadership. He is fair- 
minded toward his political opponents, generous to his friends, makes no S/ 
compromise with his enemies, never forgets his public duties, and never 
forgets the interests of the Democratic party. 

Although Mr. Randall was a strong partisan, he was 
broad-minded enough to depart sometimes from strict party 
lines, as drawn in the House. For example, in L863 a bill 
was pending authorizing the President to appoint a 
lieutenant-general for all the United States military forces. 
The bill obviously pointed to General Grant. It was 
opposed by nearly all the Democrats, but Mr. Randall 
gave it hearty and successful support. 

It was at the same session that the resolution of Mr. 
Henderson amending the Constitution by abolishing slavery, 
which had passed the Senate, reached the House. Mr. 
Randall opposed the resolution, saying : 

" I do not object to it from partisan or sectional grounds, but 
because I regard it as a beginning of changes in the Constitu- 
tion and the forerunner of usurpation. Such policy is mut- 
ing the South and dividing t he North. " 

In the Forty-firsl Congress Mr. Randall expressed him- 



124 Address of Mr. Quay f of Pennsylvania, on the 

self upon the subject of the repudiation of the national 
debt: 

"In the time allowed me it is hardly possible that I should 
follow the gentleman from Ohio in all his sayings or what I 
might mildly term his political heresies; but for myself — 
and I think I speak for my constituents — I am uttterly op- 
posed to repudiation. But the moment allowed me gives 
me the opportunity to remonstrate against the enunciation 
of any scheme of legislation which I believe would place 
my country in a dishonest attitude before the world. Not 
only do I believe that we should pay the debt, but I believe, 
what is of vastly greater importance, that the country has 
the ability, the disposition, and the resources to pay it." 

It was not until the Forty-second and Forty-third Con- 
gresses that Mr. Randall achieved extended national repu- 
tation. The Republicans were largely in the majority, but 
Mr. Randall served on the Committees on Banking and 
Currency, Post-Offices and Post-Roads, and Rules. The ma- 
jority, in order to carry <>ut their programme of legislation, 
had adopted rules intended to prevent obstruction, had en- 
forced strict caucus control of votes, and had determined to 
push to enactment the measure then known as the force bill. 

Mr. Blaine was the Speaker of the House, and notwith- 
standing the ability of the presiding officer and the changes 
in the rules Mr. Randall led the minority with such par- 
liamentary skill as to effectually block the way of the Repub- 

- \ lican majority. In a session of the House lasting forty-six 

hours and twenty-five minutes the roll was called seventy-five 
times, and finally an adjournment was reached, nineteen Re- 
publicans voting with the Democrats. Many members were 
prostrated by the prolonged straggle, bin at its close Mr. 
Randall was apparently as fresh as when the House had 
been called to order. 



Life and Character of Samuel j. Randall. 125 

During the contest that ensued over the civil rights bill 
Mr. Randall led the minority with dash and dignity. 
During the debates on this measure and the efforts to sus- 
pend the rules to secure its passage, which were finally suc- 
cessful by a vote of 181 to 90, the language used in the de- 
bate was often violent, but Mr. Randall's conduct Avas 
marred by no intemperate outburst, The battle upon the 
force bill followed, and under Mr. Randall's leadership 
the Democratic minority succeeded in so delaying the pass- 
age of ,the bill that it reached the Senate too late for action 
before adjournment. 

During this struggle Mr. Randall remained upon the 
floor for seventy-two hours, alternately demanding a call of 
the House on the question of no quorum and on motions to 
excuse • members from voting. Although the bill passed, 
thirty-three Republicans voted with the Democrats in spite of 
the caucus action— certainly a striking tribute to Mr. Ran- 
dall's efficiency as a parliamentary obstructionist and to 
his ability as a leader in carrying disorganization into the 
ranks of the majority. 

The House which met in 1875 contained a Democratic ma- 
jority. Mr. Randall was one of the four candidates for 
the Speakership, but Michael C. Kerr was elected. Mr. 
Randall's leadership in the previous Congress was recog- 
nized by his appointment as chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations. His work in this committee resulted in 
his high reputation as an opponent of extravagance. At 
the second session of the same Congress he was chosen 
Speaker to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Kerr. 
He came to the chair at a trying time, but proved himself 
equal to the emergency. His election was the &rs1 of many 
battles which divided the Democratic party on the question 
of protection. 



126 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the 

When Mr. Randall came to the chair the Presidency 
was in dispute between Hayes and Tilden. There were 
p< >ssibilities of anarchy in the future, and threats were made 
that marching armies would shake the Alleghany Moun- 
tains. The words uttered by Mr. Randall when he took 
the chair showed the standard of conduct which he had set 
for himself and do not inaccurately describe the patriotic 
statesmanship which guided his action. Mr. Randall said: 

We stand in the presence of events which strain and test to the last de- 
gree our form of government. Our liberties, consecrated by so many 
sacrifices in the past and preserved amid the rejoicings of an exultant 
people at our centennial anniversary as one among the nations of the 
earth, must be maintained at all hazard. The people look confidently to 
your moderation, to. your wisdom, in this time fraught with so much 
peril. Let us not, 1 beseech you, disappoint their just expectations and 
their keen sense of right: but, by unceasing vigilance, let us prevent even 
the slightest departure from the Constitution and the laws, forgetting 
in a moment of difficulty that we are the adherents of party and only 
remembering that we are American citizens with a country to save. 

During this struggle Mr Randall was a warm friend to 
Mr. Tilden and was in close consultation with him. In the 
chair, however, he never swerved from the calmest judicial 
attitude, and he opposed the turbulent spirits of his own 
party and succeeded in inducing both parties to accept the 
compromise of the Electoral Commission and to abide its. 
decision. 

At the close of the session, Mr. Randall said, affirming 
the Democratic claim to the Presidency and at the same 
time explaining its acceptance of the result — 

The Democratic party yielded temporary possession of the administra- 
tion rather than entail upon the people civil war. with all its attendant 
horrors. 

Mr. Randall was again elected Speaker in the Forty-fifth 
Congress, and at the extra session in 1879 he was chosen 
Speaker of the Forty-sixth Congress. In the Forty-seventh 






Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 127 

Congress, when the Republican majority elected a Speaker, 
the Hon. J. Warren Keifer, of Ohio, Mr. Randall became 
a member of the Committee on Appropriations, and again 
made an energetic record in limiting the expenditure of 
public moneys. 

In 1883, when the Democratic party was again divided 
between free trade and protection, Mr. Randall, repre- 
senting the protection wing of the party, was again a candi- 
dal*' for Speaker and was opposed by Hon. John CI. Carlisle, 
now a distinguished member of this body, representing the 
opponents of protection. Mr. Randall was defeated. 

His last great work as a member of the House was the 
preparation of a tariff bill as a substitute for the measure 
reported by Hon. Roger Q. Mills, as chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Ways and Means, and the delivery of a speech 
in its support, Thereafter- the disease which sapped his 
strength prevented his active participation in the proceed- 
ings of the House. 

During the beginning of the present session, while he lay 
upon his sick bed, his counsel was repeatedly sought by the 
leaders of the minority, and his last public deliverance was 
a letter which he sent to the Democratic caircus urging 
them to maintain what they claimed were their rights. 

Mr. Randall, in 1868, only four years after his election 
to Congress, was an unsuccessful candidate for delegate at 
large to the national Democratic convention at New York. 
• In 1872 he was elected a delegate to the national Democratic 
convention at Baltimore which nominated Horace Greeley. 
In 1876 he was again a delegate to the Democratic national 
convention, but his duties compelled him to remain in Wash 
ington. In 1880 he received in the Democratic national 
convention 128^ votes for the Presidency. When General 
Hancock was nominated, Mr. Randall, who was a dele- 



•4 



128 Address of Mr. Quay, of Pennsylvania, on the 

gate to the convention, seconded tlie motion to make the 
nomination unanimous. In the Democratic national conven- 
tion of 188-1 he received the solid vote of the Pennsylvania 
delegation for the Presidential nomintion. 

During his illness Mr. Randall gave much thought to 
religious questions, and as a result of his meditations he be- 
came a member, about two months before his death, of the 
Metropolitan Presbyterian Church. He had for many years 
been a constant attendant at this and other Presbyterian 
churches. His was in no sense a death-bed conversion. It 
was a genuine confession of faith in the Christian religion 
based upon an intellectual examination of its fundamental 
doctrines. There is no doubt that Mr. Randall believed to 
within a short time of his death that he would eventually 
recover from the insidious disease, which at last reached 
a fatal termination at daybreak on Sunday, April 30, 1890, 
at his home in this city, where he was surrounded by the 
members of his family. 

Such were the private life and public career of one who 
wrought better for the country than for himself, and better, 
perhaps, than others whose names will more luminously 
illustrate the pages of its history. The life of toil and 
struggle and patriotism terminated in suffering. When 
before his final day his doom was read to him he turned his 
face to the shining beacon on the farther side of the dark 
river, and, with faith unfaltering as his courage, he went 
down into its deep waters. 

When the committee of this body which followed his re- 
mains to the grave met those who had gathered around its 
opening to look their last upon his face, they must have rec- 
ognized the fact that the thousands there assembled were 
the working people of his city, and that this was indeed a 
great commoner. There was a want of display and of votive 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 129 

offerings, but in their stead were the bowed heads and soft- 
ened hearts of a multitude of the common people. These 
were his associates, his friends, his supporters, and the 
beneficiaries of the sacrifices of his life of duty. Others 
may appear in his stead to assume the robes which have 
fallen from him and may fittingly fulfill their office, but 
none, I think, will ever arise to exactly fill, for political 
position, positive courage, unselfishness, patriotism, and 
devotion to duty the great chasm left in Pennsylvania by 
this man's death. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BARBOUR, OF VIRGINIA. 

Mr. President: If not otherwise prompted, my warm per- 
sonal friendship and high appreciation of the public services 
of Samuel J. Randall would furnish me with sufficient 
justification to say something on this occasion of praise and 
commendation to the memory of the great Pennsylvanian. 

Besides, Mr. Randall was well known to the people of 
Virginia, and enjoyed without qualification their highest 
admiration, confidence, and esteem. 

The value and extent of his great legislative services in 
the House of Representatives were generally known and ap- 
preciated by our people, and no difference of opinion upon 
any economic question, if any existed, was ever allowed to 
come between them and his nobility. His integrity was 
spotless, his firmness as solid as the rock basis of the Penn- 
sylvania mountains, and his abilities and patriotism were 
always equal to the exigencies of the most important occa- 
sions. He was a tribune emphatically of the people, and a 
great one, too, of our latter-day American politics, in my 
judgment. 

H. Mis. 265 9 



130 Address of Mr. Barbour, of I 'irgiaia, on tJic 

Educated in the school of Thomas Jefferson, the great 
apostle of liberty, he believed that government derived its 
just ] towers from the consent of the governed, and that all 
political powers should be exercised in favor of the equal 
rights and privileges of the masses of the people. Mr. Ran- 
dall was not much inclined to abstract and sentimental 
statesmanship, but more disposed to regard political meas- 
ures from a practical standpoint, and perhaps for this reason 
at times got out of touch with a majority of the leaders of 
his party, especially on one of the most important questions 
of the day. 

His great power lay more in action than in the presenta- 
tion of glittering generalities, so called, and his ambition 
was exerted more to produce results of importance and ben- 
efit to the people than to indulge in the inferior fields of 
rhetorical display. It is probable that his early experience 
in mercantile life and commercial intercourse with his fel- 
low-men, and the effect of legislative measures upon the 
business of the country, taught Mr. Randall the value of 
practical or applied politics, as distinguished from the 
theories of the schools and abstractions of political economy 
as laid down in the books. Conditions were more potent in 
confronting him than theories. 

It may be that this difference of political thought and 
action contributed to put him sufficiently out of line with 
some of his party associates as to have prevented him from 
receiving at their hands the nomination for the highest 
office within the gift of the people of the United States, a 
position to which he was so well entitled by his long and 
eminent public services. 

Personal considerations could not swerve Mr. Randall a 
hair's breadth from his course. If any defect in Mr. Ran- 
dall's make-up as a public man and statesman existed, it 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randal/. 131 

grew out of his indisposition to conciliate opposition or to 
yield aught in the way of compromise in passing upon 
measures affecting the public interest. 

There was nothing precocious about the growth of the 
reputation and ability of Mr. Randall. He presented a 
clear example of political evolution. His earlier years in 
Congress, as I understand, were not marked by any special 
political significance, but as the vital measures of constitu- 
tional amendment and of public policy which followed the 
close of the civil war came. up for Congressional considera- 
tion the genius of Samuel J. Randall rose with the occa- 
sion. He became the acknowledged leader of his party in 
the House of Representatives. His subsequent career is so 
recent and well known as to make further allusion to it or 
comment unnecessary. 

His great ability, courage, patriotism, and fidelity were ^ 
universally conceded and known of all men, and when the 
summons came for his final departure from earth it was re- 
ceived with manifestations of profound national regret and 
associated with all the symbols of public grief and mourn- 
ing. 

And as I accompanied the remains of the departed states- 
man to their last resting place in the beautiful cemetery near 
Philadelphia and saw the great cortege of friends, neighbors, 
and constituents assembled to do honor to his memory, I 
felt that the useful career of this simple, unostentatious, and 
true-hearted public man was fully appreciated where he was 
best known, and was permanently enshrined in the minds 
and hearts of his countrymen. 



132 Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia, on the 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 

Mr. President: To rule a people to the end that they may 
be united, free, peaceful, and happy is the whole science of 
government — the statesman's study, the patriot's desire, the 
citizen's benefaction. 

Throughout his career the late Samuel Jackson Randall, 
a Representative from Pennsylvania, exerted his noble fac- 
ulties to this consummation. 

He was for union — for union based on mutual trust, in- 
terest, and affection — the only union blessed of Heaven. 

He was for freedom, for the freedom of grace, comity, 
conscience, concession, and kindness, in which men are 
prompted to do by inclination that which they might be 
compelled to do by force — the only freedom that is not a 
fantasy. 

He was for peace, for peace guarded by the angels of 
Hope, Faith, and Love; the only peace that does not wear a 
canker in its heart and does not carry a dagger in its bosom. 
And in their pursuit of happiness the people of our country 
had no helper more constant, more intrepid, more filled with 
the good cheer of patriotism than was he, to whom we say: 
"Farewell! well done!" to-day. 

Of a vigorous nature, mental and physical; of integrity 
never questioned ; full of force and application ; alert, 
trained to business and business-like in every method ; 
hating intrigue ; of strong attachments ; grateful for kind- 
ness ; loving his friends, and glad to serve them ; void of 
vengefulness, but intense and faithful in conviction ; sensi- 
ble of responsibility, but ready to assume it ; flinching from 
no encounter ; jealous of every encroachment on public 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 133 

rights and interests, he was the model of a public servant, 
and he added honor and glory to the name of representative 
of the people. 

There was the flash of genius in his large dark eye. There 
was a somber Roman beauty of civic courage and inflexible 
will in his strong countenance, and that too subtle for stone 
or canvas, the spirit dominant and dauntless. 

"Us well for him whose will is strong ; 
He suffers, but he will not suffer long ; 
He suffers, but lie will not suffer wrong. 

His fame amongst publicists will rest upon the skill and 
ability he displayed as a parliamentary leader. Amongst 
his compeers there were those of more varied accomplish- 
ments, but none who better digested or used their knowl- 
edge. There were those more eloquent, but none who spoke 
more to the purpose or better knew when to be brief or 
silent. There were those who thought more profoundly on 
many questions ; there were few indeed who could act more 
wisely on a particular one. There were those more brilliant ; 
there were none of sounder sense. He was reliable, conserv- 
ative, concentrative, and decisive. He ignored trifles ; he 
mastered details. Principle was his guide ; result his goal. 
Always partisan, he was always fair, brave, generous, and 
just. He would have made a great President. 

His career was singular. A Northern man, a Union man, 
a soldier for a time in the Union Army, of old Whig ex- 
traction, wedded to the economic ideas of that party, and to 
the extension of them as evolved by the Republicans. Living 
in a Republican State, he yet became a Democrat and stood 
foremost in the councils of the Democratic party, its recog- 
nized chief on the floor of the House and then its Speaker 
in the chair. Always in the "imminent deadly breach" of 
political warfare, giving stout blows and receiving them, a 



134 Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia, o?i the 

si lining mark for hostile shafts, he yet retained the univer- 
sal respect and good-will of friend and foe; exerted no last- 
ing resentments, provoked no slander. 

There is in this a revelation; and a message from the dead 
seems to open the seal of the great book which contains it. 
I believe that this was because he was truly and plainly a 
national man in the broad, catholic spirit of common citi- 
zenship and humanity; and that he dared and did what 
seemed to him right for the whole people, one and insepara- 
ble. I believe it was because he illustrated as he taught the 
lesson that friendship, good-will, patriotism, are greater than 
any economic theory or any mere administrative principle. 
Fraternity is greater than liberty or equality, because it is 
their creator, not their creature. A restful peace makes all 
good things possible. 

His patriotism was not a phrase. It was genuine. It did 
not end in epithets, upon emblems. The deed was its inter- 
pretation. It overstepped technical party lines. It leaped 
the barriers of sections. It embraced every State. It pro- 
claimed the right of every citizen. It made a bridge of 
gold over bloody chasms. It was American. Patriotism is 
half hid from view when we call it "love of country/' The 
old Latin word from which it springs would remind us that 
it is a tiling of flesh and blood and spirit — the filial love of 
fatherhood, the brotherly love of all our countrymen, the 
children of the fatherhood. 

He had faith in his countrymen, in their wholeness, in 
their faithfulness, in their trustworthiness. 

He had hope for his countrymen, that their Constitution 
would shine before them over the wrecks of hatred; that 
their institutions would enshrine and transmit the blessings 
of civil liberty: that the chords of memory would be 
"touched by the angels of our better nature." 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 135 

In his modest, hospitable home on the Capitol Hill, in the 
bosom of his family, aside from the pomp and vanities of 
the gay metropolis, he spent his days in the toil of love and 
duty. 

But neither the splendor of palaces, nor the titles of rank, 
nor the joys of triumphs, nor the retinues of riches, could 
bestow such dignity as was his— the unaffected friend, the 
worthy citizen. 

In sound of the voices yet contending in the great Hall 
which had known his presence and echoed his accents for 
over a quarter of a century, in bow-shot of the Capitol, 
whose steps he would ascend no more forever, he felt the 
mortal pang, and in open view slow death advanced upon 
him. 

The stricken warrior heard the battle roll, and watched 
its shifting tides, helpless to raise a hand. But many missed 
him in their need, and sighed — 

Oh ! for an hour of our lost Dundee. 

He met death with the composure of an equal spirit. At 
peace with man, with trust in God, he died. Farewell, brave 
spirit ! 

The apostle's words pronounced their benediction: 

Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail: whether there be tongues, 
they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of 
these is charity. 



136 Address of Mr. Plumd, of Kansas, on tJic 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas. 

Mr. President: Painfully frequent as lias been the re- 
currence of these memorial observances of late, and emi- 
nent as have been the subjects of them, it can not be 
doubted that he in whose honor these tributes are being ren- 
dered was worthy to rank among the most illustrious. The 
career of Mr. Randall was truly a remarkable one. Such 
were the qualities of his mind and the elements of his nature 
that he seemed destined from the very dawn of manhood to 
contend successfully against whatever obstacles might beset 
his pathway and to make himself a leader among leaders. 
He was no favorite of fortune, nor were his surroundings 
and circumstances such as often lift mediocrity into unde- 
served prominence. 

Without the ad vantage of wealth or extensive scholarship, 
he entered upon active life in a community rich in historical 
associations, richer still in its heritage of illustrious names, 
and in which social and commercial influences were at least 
as powerful as in any other section of the country. That he 
succeeded so unmistakably, that his career for the better 
part of a generation was one of steady progress in influences 
and in demonstrated capacity for usefulness and for leader- 
ship, attests beyond cavil or question his self-reliant and in- 
domitable nature. 

His public life compassed the most momentous period in 
our history. The opportunities which it offered for the 
noblest efforts of genius and of patriotism were as numerous 
as they were exacting. To these deman Is of the times Mr. 
Randall responded loyally and resolutely, and few of his 
contemporaries have left a more enduring impress upon 
them. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 137 

As partisans Ave may sometimes question the wisdom of his 
policies, and Ms views of political and industrial economy 
may challenge the dissent of many; but as respects the sin- 
cerity of his convictions and the zeal and ability with which 
they were championed the unanimity of opinion is absolute. 

Perhaps. the predominant feature of our dead friend's 
character, as manifested in his life and service among us, 
was inflexibility of purpose, that tenacity of belief which, 
being the result of judgment and reflection, yielded neither 
to the fervor of opposition nor to the arts of persuasion. 
This conspicuous element in his intellectual and moral equ i ] .- 
ment was as far removed from unreasoning stubbornness as 
it was from that variableness which too often hampers and 
blights careers not wanting in engaging and brilliant fea- 
tures. 

Mr. Randall's popularity was as extensive as it was un- 
doubted. That he courted public favor at the sacrifice of a 
single one of his matured convictions his whole history dis- 
proves. Indeed, he could not have been blind to the prob- 
ability that failure to harmonize with the great majority of 
his political associates on a subject of deep national concern 
would rather diminish than increase the personal considera- 
tion in which he was held. Still there was no wavering, 
and he went to his grave firm in the faith which it had been 
the chief labor of his riper years to propagate and exemplify. 

The sturdiest of partisans, he wasaboveall a patriot. He 
sought political advantage by open and In >n< >rable proce> 
but refused to pursue it at the hazard of the public safety. 
Interposing the weight of his personal character and the 
authority of his official position at a time of intense excite- 
ment and threatened dangers he powerfully aided in secur- 
ing a peaceful adjustment, under the sanction of law, of a 
controversy which foreboded peril to the Republic. 



L38 Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas, on Hu- 

ll his resolution was firm and his convictions positive, 
none knew better than he that conciliation and compromise 
are the inevitable resource "of a successful popular govern- 
ment. So he erected no arbitrary standard of achievement 
at such a height as to make the full measure of success 
doubtful if not impossible, refusing to be content with less, 
but wisely secured what was practicable for the time and 
turned his face toward fresh successes in the future. 

In the popular acceptation of the term, Mr. Randall 
could hardly be called an eloquent man. He despised the 
tricks of oratory, and appealed to reason rather than to fancy 
or to passion. The gravity of his discourse was neither re- 
lieved by metaphor nor embellished by poetry, nor did he 
court the flattery of the unthinking by tawdry ornamenta- 
tion. But if the purpose of eloquence be to instruct and to 
convince, then was he one of the most eloquent men of his 
time. Seldom elaborate, never diffuse, not often even in- 
dulging in careful analysis or conforming to the rules of 
logic as laid down by the schools, his compact and luminous 
statements carried all the force and effect of demonstration. 
The processes of his thought and speech converged system- 
atically upon the precise object sought to be accomplished, 
and he left to others the lighter labor of inciting admiration 
and stimulating applause. 

Rigid and unbending as he was in his views of duty, he 
was above all just. Ever ready to hear and weigh either 
appeal or protest, his final decision satisfied his conscience 
and his judgment. 

Mr. Randall's strictly personal characteristics were such 
as to strengthen his hold upon popular appreciation. Plain. 
unpretentious, kindly in bearing, and conspicuously domes- 
tic in taste and inclination, he was richly qualified in every 
respect to be, as he was. the tribune of the people. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 139 

To these endowments was added rectitude of purpose and 
conduct which was never questioned in the fiercest heat of 
political antagonism, and which was exemplified in a private 
life singularly modest and unostentatious, contributing to 
and sharing in those sweet and kindly ministrations which 
make the happy home a miniature of heaven. 



Address of Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky. 

Mr. Pkesident: I shall ask but a few moments in which 
to pay in unprepared and homely phrase my tribute to the 
character and services of Pennsylvania's dead statesman. 
I would not intrude even what I have to say upon the Senate 
if it- were not for the long and close association that has 
existed between us. For fifteen years I was in continuous 
service with him in Congress. Ten of those years we passed 
in the other House together, serving upon the same com- 
mittee, belonging to the same political party. We often 
divided, and divided widely, but it is only just to him to 
add that no divisions that ever came between us either in 
their effect upon our personal ambitions or upon party poli- 
cies ever in the slightest degree abated my estimate of his 
abilities or my admiration for his character. 

His was in many respects, sir, a singular career. Witl Lout 
fortune or fame to precede him, he came into the Congress 
of the United States in 1863, at the very darkest hour of the 
war period of his country's history. He came here as a 
Representative upon the minority side. But promptly upon 
his appearance in this arena he asserted those natural p< rwers 
and capacities for leadership that marked him to his grave. 
Although his entrance into public life was in the gloomiest 
period of our history, his patriotism blazed too bright ly ever 



14(1 . Iddress of Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, on the 

to be questioned. Although the years of the war through 
which he served in public here and those immediately fol- 
lowing were marked in the very nature of things with the 
most reckless methods that had ever been known, and 
though they could not possibly be other than corrupt when 
compared with an era of peace, he served through all that 
period, and at its close his untarnished honor shone as 
1 (rightly as the shield in the sun. The maelstrom that 
swallowed up the previously good reputations of so many 
public men left no stain upon his escutcheon. He entered 
life poor; and at the end of more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury of public service he went out of it only to go into his 
grave still poorer. If he left the public service with hands 
that were empty, the world knew that he left it with hands 
that were clean. 

The most conspicuous example of his properties of leader- 
si iip that was ever given occurred in the Forty-third Con- 
gress, to which the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Quay] 
has so happily alluded in his beautiful tribute to his dead 
colleague. It was then, sir, that he stood there the recog- 
nized leader of the helpless, and it well-nigh appeared hope- 
less, minority, battling for the maintenance of his honestly 
cherished convictions through all those weary days that 
stretched out into still more weary weeks and months, beat- 
ing back the serried hosts of a majority that threatened to 
overwhelm as the waves of the sea. For stubbornness of 
maintenance, for skill of management, for the lofty courage 
with which it was prosecuted, that contest stands without a 
parallel in the Congressional history of this country. He ac- 
complished the purpose for which he struggled, and for his 
service there every son and daughter of the South owes a 
tribute to his memory, a flower to his -rave. 

We are told, sir. that no man is truly great. This may 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 141 

be; but in the person of this man of whom we speak were 
found exceptionally developed many of the properties of true 
greatness. The two corner-stones upon which it rests were 
marvelously developed in him, an honesty that was unques- 
tionable and a courage that was unfaltering. These were 
the distinguishing characteristics of this man. He towered 
up in that House during his twenty-seven years of service 
always in the front rank of its leaders, and ofttimes, when 
the crucial and the supreme moment of trial came, he loomed 
above his fellows as the one undaunted soul upon whom all 
would rely. 

He followed in the steps of another great parliamentary 
leader that his State had previously given to the other wing 
of this Capitol ; and I do believe that if the judgment of the 
future shall be fair it will declare that Thaddeus Stevens and 
Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, were the two most 
marked, the two most efficient, the two greatest parliament- 
ary leaders that the House has known in the half century 
that lies behind us. 

I do not know that he could be compared fairly in point of 
oratorical ability or finish to many of the men who sur- 
rounded him and served with him ; but, Mr. President, the 
more enlarged my observation of life becomes the more 
thoroughly am I persuaded that that which marks t he power 
of man over man is not so much his intellectual superiority 
as it is the earnestness of his convictions and the aggressive 
courage with which he prosecutes them. In this respeel we 
have too rarely seen this man's equal. 

That he was perfectly trustworthy is evinced by the Long 
career that he led. The majority of his party differed with 
him in that shibboleth of political faith which of late years 
has become the chief issue involved in political struggles, 
but never from the dawn of his career in thai House until 



14:2 Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois, on the 

the grave dosed over him was thereto he found on either 
side of the House or country a man who ever questioned the 
integrity of his purpose. Truly these are properties and 
distinguishing properties that go to make up the true meas- 
ure iif mortal greatness. The Lord never made a man more 
honest nor a man more courageous. He never knew the 
name of fear. "Though a broken orb should fall, fearless 
lie would stand amid its ruins." 

When we come to contemplate these strong points and 
properties that stood out so prominently in his character, 
we can but conclude that it would be well for those who 
come after us to ponder upon his life and to follow his 
example. Peace to his ashes, honor to his memory, and 
rest to his manly soul. 



Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 

Mr. President: We are again engaged in the se^lemn duty 
of paying honor to the dead. It is fit and proper that 
we should turn aside from our legislative duties and. as best 
we can, commemorate the virtues of him to whom honoris 
due. Samuel Jackson Randall, who for long years was 
• •ngaged in the public service of his country, has gone 
from among us to his final home beyond the grave. 

I will not detail to the Senate on this solemn occasion an 
account of the many acts which make up the career of that 
great statesman. That has been done by the honorable Sen- 
ator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Quay], who is more familiar 
with the personal history of the deceased than are Senators 
from other States. The public life of Mr. Randall is fa- 
miliar to the people of the whole country. Few men were 
better known than was he. 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 143 

Mr. President, it was my privilege to serve with him in 
the House of Representatives for six years, beginning with 
the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, in 1865. 

From personal observation of and association with him 
I formed my opinion of him as a friend, as a legislator, as a 
statesman, and as a man. As a friend he was true as steel, 
always loyal through good and evil report. As a legislator 
he was strong, constantly struggling to secure the passage 
of measures that he believed to be in the interest of the 
country and to kill those measures which he deemed to be 
wrong. He was simple in his own habits of life and lived 
economically, and as chairman of the Committee on Appro- 
priations he was a stubborn advocate of an economic admin- 
istration of the affairs of the Government. 

As Speaker of the House he was able and fair, but, like 
all strong men, administered the duties of that high office 
with a strong hand. As a statesman I need not say, Mr. 
President, he was patriotic and looked to the general wel- 
fare of our Republic in the consideration of all great meas- 
ures. He was in the broadest sense a man, full of courage, 
honest with himself and honest with the world. Physically 
and mentally he was a giant, of indomitable will-power and 
of unconquerable spirit. The greater the struggle or the 
more exciting the contest in which he became involved the 
greater courage, confidence, and power he seemed to possess 
and the more confidently his friends would rally to his sup- 
port. He was a leader, and those who agreed with him fol- 
lowed him regardless of results as to success or failure. 

Great men are moved by their convictions of duty. They 
are governed either as private citizens or as servants of the 
people by their convictions. The principle of right and 
wrong is never absent from their minds. Mr. Randall 
was controlled in his public life by his convictions; when he 



1-14 Address of Air. Cullom, of Illinois, on the 

believed he had a righteous cause he was immovable, and no 
threats of injury or defeat could turn him to the right or to 
the left from his purpose. When he reached the conclusion 
that a certain policy was right in the interest of the general 
welfare, he pursued it with that relentless energy which 
only a man of Ids great power could do. 

Mr. President, few men in our nation's history have left 
a stronger impress upon the country than Samuel J. Ran- 
dall. As a statesman he stood for economy all through 
his public career. He stood for patriotism also, and never 
swerved from a constant devotion to the Union. He was an 
uncompromising Democrat, but differed with his party on 
the great economic question which engages the attention of 
the country and of Congress so intensely, from time to time. 
as the nation goes forward in its career of unbroken pros- 
perity. In debate he was always strong, addressing himself 
to the point at issue, and always brief. The Congressional 
Record for more than a quarter of a century will attest the 
prominence and power of Mr. Randall as a controlling in- 
fluence in shaping legislation and giving direction to the 
affairs of our Government in the eventful period of his 
public service. 

Mr. President, I sometimes wonder that our nation is 
apparently undisturbed by the almost constant falling by 
the way of our greatest statesmen. Sir, it would astonish 
you and us all if the names of those on whom w r e have relied 
as leaders in thought and in the nation's affairs for the last 
thirty years should be here given. What a roll of honor it 
would be. Many of our great statesmen and scholars have 
passed away within a few brief years, but, thank God, our 
Republic moves on in its career of unprecedented glory, 
daily demonstrating the important fact that as its patriotic 
citizens and statesmen retire from the theater of action they 



Life and C 'ha racier of Samuel J. Randall. 145 

pass the torch of liberty to those who come after them, 
bright and burning as they received it. So, Mr. President, 
while we mourn the loss of great men, especially those whom 
we knew as friends, we are consoled in a measure by the 
fact that the life of the Government and of our free insti- 
tutions is not in the hands alone of the few, but is in the 
safe-keeping of the great body of the people. 



Address of Mr, Morgan, of Alabama. 

Mr. President: Under our peculiar system of govern- 
ment and in view of the institutions by which we are sur- 
rounded, a very great and significant value attaches to a 
good reputation earned in Congress/ This is the tribunal 
where thought is exchanged, where measures are ripened 
and enacted upon which the destinies of the country hang; 
and he who has devoted himself through a series of years 
as the representative of his State or his people in the devel- 
opment and maturing of the measures which control the 
great affairs with which we are concerned here, and ha s won 
the approbation of the country through years of faithful 
and laborious service, may be said to have contributed to 
its renown, to the wealth of its history, in a higher degree 
than he could do in almost any other theater to which he 

might be called. 

The value of a great and good reputation earned in Con- 
gress has been testified to by the country, through the grief 
of the people, in a number of instances during the presenl 
Fifty-first Congress. We have lost a [lumber of our most 
useful men. Conspicuous amongsl these objects ^( sorrow 
to the people of the United States have been Mr. ('ox. Mr. 
Kelley. Mr. Randall and Mr. Beck— men who have each 
H. Mis. 265 10 



146 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama, on the 

earned a reputation that will go down in honor along the 
current of the history of this country to the last period, 
through their earnest, honest, constant, devoted, and pa- 
triotic labors. 

Mr. Cox was a man of brilliant genius. He ornamented 
the literature and oratory of the country in most beautiful 
and enticing productions from his vivid mind. 

Mr. Kelley was also a man of much literary accomplish- 
ment, beauty of thought and imagination, a ripe scholar, 
and at the same time he was a man who was sturdy and 
strong and earnest as a laborer. They were all very able 
and laborious men, but Mr. Randall and Mr. Beck may be 
said to have represented the most laborious of the classes of 
American statesmen who have engaged in the service of this 
country for many years past. They were all great, and no 
country has within the same period of time been called upon 
to express its grief and mourning over the loss of four truer 
or better or more useful men than these. 

Mr. Randall amongst this body of statesmen had dis- 
tinguishing peculiarities. It was not my privilege to know 
him intimately, but I had the same observation of him that 
I think the people at large had. Uninfluenced by any pe- 
culiar personal attachments, I think that I have the view of 
him which is entertained by the whole body of the people of 
the United States, and it is that few abler or better men have 
ever been found in the public councils of any country. His 
personal characteristics were all exemplified in his political 
life, and his political life was all there was of his public life. 
So far as I have understood, the whole of his history has 
been written by his own hand in the records of Congress. 
Not a line is blurred. It has been graven with a clever 
and steady hand, and it is the fruitful and true memorial of 
a self-denying, honest, and dutiful public service. He has 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 147 

said nothing in vain; lie has done nothing that was not jus- 
tified by good conscience. 

He always impressed me as being a man who had the sus- 
taining power of an honest, deep, well-settled conviction 
that he was right, and was acting justly, wisely, and hon- 
estly in everything he did. He had great force of will, 
great power to impress his thoughts and conclusions upon 
the minds of other men, not through persuasion, but through 
conviction. If he had been in the Army during the period 
of the civil war, with any ambition for military preferment, 
he would have become a distinguished general. He would 
have been a great commander of great bodies of armed men 
in the conflict of war. He had all the highest qualities of 
a true soldier, except that he had no desire for fame that 
must be earned in warfare, if earned at all, through the 
sufferings of humanity. 

I have thought of him often as representing in civil life 
those peculiar characteristics that we in the South, and I 
think all the country, attribute to Stonewall Jackson — a 
man of the deepest and most profound convictions; a man 
of heroic fortitude whenever he felt that he was right; a 
man of unflinching courage in all times of danger; a man 
of cool, wise, deliberate cast of mind; a man of absolute 
faith, who would stake his life and all else that belonged to 
him upon a conviction on any topic that he thong] it was 
material to the honor and welfare of his country. 

The Pantheon of America is in the hearts of the people. 
I do not desire to see the time when we shall build a vasl 
temple here and congregate in it tin 1 marble images of our 
great men who have preceded us. It is not at all necessary, 
because the gratitude of the American heart keeps pace 
with the realization of the benefits we are deriving daily 
and hourly from the work of the great statesmen and lead- 



1 18 Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama, on the 

ers of tlir country. The people drape the noble memories 
of the men they honor in the habiliments of light and glory. 
softened by gratitude and love, and they keep in their Pan- 
theon the undying memorials of those who have been true 
and honest in their dealings with their welfare. What body, 
or whose image, in marble or bronze, has ever found a nobler 
shrine than this? 

So it is not needed in a free and great country like this 
and with a people who govern themselves, and therefore are 
prepared rightly to value their servants who assist them in 
this great work, that they should have temples dedicated to 
the dead, and that they should erect therein the images of 
those who have died in their service. 

The honorable roll of great statesmen and scholars, re- 
ferred to by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom], wh< 
have passed off in. the last thirty years is recorded in the 
hearts of the American people. They have treasured in 
their hearts the remembrance of every one of these. That 
roll is an honor to the age in which we live, that will grow 
brighter as the years increase in number. The record is 
made in our Pantheon. 

I can speak, Mr. President, for the people of the South in 
regard to this love that the people have for Mr. Randall's 
memory. Without referring to the circumstances which 
have created the sensibility which causes them to appreciate 
very thoroughly and very profoundly what they conceive to 
be his great services rendered to them, I can say that, in the 
Southern heart, there is not one pulsation that does not beat 
with gratitude to the memory of Samuel J. Randall. 

That is a great thing to say of any man, that he is 
crowned with the love, after his grave is closed, of fifteen 
or twenty millions of people. He won that affection in the 
halls of Congress in his assistance in the administration of 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 149 

the Constitution and laws of the United States as lie con- 
ceived that they were, and as he conceived that they ought 
to be, and it was here that he reaped a harvest of renown 
which will continue to brighten as we recede from the period 
of his labors and the hour of his death. 

He owed the people of the South no special duty or affec- 
tion growing out of kinship, favors shown him, or personal 
association. In war he was their enemy, but in peace he was 
such a friend as only such a man can be. 

Mr. Randall during his life, as I am informed, was not 
a member of any church. AVhen about a month before the 
period of his dissolution he turned his thoughts in a new 
direction and contemplated a new life in the great beyond, 
he acted upon convictions that moved his soul to its very 
foundation. Perhaps he had no prejudice to yield, perhaps 
he had no new line of thought to take up when he gave him- 
self to the Church of God as one of its willing servants; but 
there was a heroism in that act which we may call the hero- 
ism of virtue. Knowing his fate, and believing from the 
early instruction which he had received that there was but 
one course that would lead him to safety in the future, he 
laid aside without hesitancy his connection with all the past 
and marched confidently forth to take his Saviour by the 
hand. 

It requires more moral courage to perform that act in the 
face of a censorious world, even when death is very near, 
than it does to fight the severest battle an American soldier 
ever engaged in. Samuel J. Randall was equal to that 
occasion as he was to every other that made any demand upon 
him that his conduct should conform faithfully to his con- 
victions. Who to-day may not crave the glory in which 
that man died ? Who may not pray U ir the reputation which 
he won, polished and made bright as it was in the estimation 
of all mankind by this last act of sublime faith? It was just 



150 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Louisiana, on the 

like him. It was the honest and manly and true response 
to the deepest, most important, and most sincere convictions 
of his soul. 

Such men, Mr. President, are not born to die out of the 
memory of the people. They were born to live in our 
affections, and the day will not occur in the history of this 
great country when the mention of the name of Samuel J 
Randall will not recall to the American heart an honest 
sense of pride that such a man lived, that such a man served 
his country, and that such a man died in the Christian faith. 



ADDRESS OF MR. GIBSON, OF LOUISIANA. 

Mr. President : Hon. Samuel J. Randall was already 
a veteran in the House and a recognized leader of the Demo- 
cratic party when I became a Representative in the Forty- 
fourth Congress. From that day until the moment of his 
death our relations were cordial, friendly, and confidential. 
It is a mournful satisfaction to lay my simple tribute upon 
the passing bier of the deceased statesman. 

I will not attempt any extended analysis of his character 
or of his intellectual endowments, or to sketch his illustrious 
career. That has already been done. He was. like all other 
truly eminent men, a man of simplicity of character and 
greatest in supreme crises. One of the most extraordinary- 
events in all parliamentary history, illustrative of his skill, 
his constancy, and endurance, was the successful conflict lie 
waged against the force bill in the Forty-third Congress, 
which secured for him and for his name the lasting grati- 
tude of the people south of the Potomac ; and not less un- 
selfish, patriotic, and brave was his conduct in executing the 
provisions of the Electoral Commission bill, by which civil 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 151 

strife was probably averted, and for which he deserves the 
gratitude of every true American. 

He was thrice elected Speaker of the House. He was am- 
bitious and loved power, but not for itself, not to make a 
vain display of its exercise ; but the power possessed by him 
was consecrated to the highest aims ; he allied it to right, 
truth, and justice. He dedicated himself as unselfishly as 
any man who ever lived to the best interests of his country ; 
to peace, concord, to the enforcement of the laws, and to 
such legislation as he believed would promote the prosperity 
and happiness of all the people. 

There is inscribed on the monument of Pitt, at Guildhall, 
London, " He disposed for twenty years of the favors of the 
Crown, lived without ostentation, and died poor." It may 
be said of Samuel J. Randall that he held in his hands the 
keys of the Treasury of the United States for twenty years 
as Speaker of the House and chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations; that during that time he lived without 
ostentation; that he saved countless millions to the people of 
this country, and he died poor. 

I have heard Mr. Tilden say, repeatedly, when discussing 
public affairs, that Samuel J. Randall was better fitted 
for magistracy over a free people than any living man; that 
he possessed the very qualities that were demanded in sea- 
sons of disquiet and peril, and that if at any time it had been 
left to his choice he would have named Samuel J. Randall 
to be President of the United States. 

Mr. Randall was fond of philosophy and Literature, hut 
the restrictions placed upon him by his devotion to public 
work prevented him from indulging his taste for general 
reading. He knew the lb, us,, of Representatives, its rules, 
business, and work, probably better than any man who was 
ever the Speakerof that body. He knew the details oi every 



152 Address of Mr. Gibson, of Louisiana, on the 

Department of the Government quite as well, if not better, 
than any chief or head, and nothing delighted him more 
than to analyze Department reports. He was a rigid econ- 
omist of the public money. 

Public money meant for him money taken from some poor 
man or some poor woman. He had no tolerance for the no- 
tion which prevails with many, that lavish appropriations 
out of the earnings and savings of the people could in any 
manner benefit the people as much as if the money had been 
left with them to be expended for their own purposes. No 
man ever made greater exertions to impress economy upon 
the administration of the Government. 

He was indeed a man of inflexible purpose and dauntless 
courage. He was not petulant or boisterous ; he was devoid 
of bravado ; nor did he seek controversy, but no threats < >r 
persuasions could drive him from the right-laid line of truth 
and duty. He was ardent, trustful, and devoted in his 
friendships, but he was discriminating. They were not 
founded upon interest or expediency, but upon the endur- 
ing qualities of honor, patriotism, and truth. 

While the aspect he presented to the public and to 
strangers was austere, in his personal relations he was 
gentle, kind, and affable. He had the characteristics which 
Macaulay assigns to the Hollands : " A strong will and a 
sweet temper." He was conciliatory without ever making 
umnanly concessions, and he was firm without indulging in 
unmanly abuse or resentments. 

He has passed away forever. The people whom he served 
will recall him as a faithful public man, possessed of great 
courage and unbending in his devotion to the public wel- 
fare ; but those who enjoyed his friendship will remember 
his open and benignant countenance, his cordial greeting, 
his loving disposition, and that temper which years of sick- 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 153 

ness and pain seemed only to make sweeter and sweeter, 
until he at last fell asleep on the bosom of his Saviour, a 
faithful servant of his God. 



ADDRESS OF MR. HISCOCK, OF NEW YORK. 

Mr. President: Before entering the Chamber I was not 
aware the Senate was considering resolutions in memoriam 
of Mr. Randall; but I will not go to other duties, pressing 
as they are, without placing in the Record a few words ex- 
pressive of my estimation of his abilities and public virtues. 
I served with Mr. Randall ten years in the House of 
Representatives, and early in the period an acquaintance 
began which soon ripened into friendship and great personal 
regard, at least on my part towards him; and I am quite 
sure that he frequently extended to me more than the ordi- 
nary official and parliamentary consideration. 

He possessed abilities of a very high order; and to say 
that he was an honest, unselfish statesman is as unnecessary, 
if not offensive, as to defend the loyalty and patriotism of 
either Lincoln, Grant, Sheridan, or Sherman. 

Mr. Randall had attained a position above that atmos- 
phere in which private hates and personal jealousies and 
poisonous slanders may render personal defense and expla- 
nations necessary. Monumental in respect to his abilities 
and virtues, whoever criticises the design is compelled to 
admit the perfection in the class to which he belonged. 

Mr. Randall was both an honest and earnest partisan. 
He recognized that our Government is administered by 
parties, and without regard to his personal fortunes, was 
convinced the Democratic party would in power more 
largely promote the general prosperity of the country, and 



1 54 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York, on the 

more certainly than the Republican party perpetuate those 
democratic and republican principles upon which our form 
of government rests. He was never doubtful or hesitating 
in his judgments or opinions; and, believing as he did, he 
rejoiced over Democratic victories and mourned over her de- 
feats, for to him her triumphs were his country's. Strong 
as were his convictions in this respect, however, he never 
sought to degrade the party he so earnestly opposed. What 
I mean is, that he never contributed to her mistakes, if she 
made any. Petty politicians, small statesmen in the oppo- 
sition—if they should be dignified by the appellation — upon 
the theory that the party in power is responsible, will con- 
tribute to her mistakes; if there are bad men in the majority, 
unite with them to promote venal and improper legislation. 
Mr. Randall never descended to that method; his country 
was involved, and his patriotism was of too high an order 
to permit him to yield to any temptation to sacrifice her 
interests and honor for even the time being. 

In the legislative body of which he was so long the lead- 
ing member, if in the minority, his influence to the fullest 
extent was exerted to obtain in legislation the best possible 
results, however strengthening and distinguishing they 
might prove to his party opponents. 

I have more than once seen a party leader rescued by him 
from defeat or a vicious amendment to his bill, promoted 
by those of his own side or a combination extending to both 
sides. 

Mr. Randall was not a popular or magnetic speaker and 
did not possess the wonderful power, by eloquent appeals 
and denunciations and logic clothed in the laces and dia- 
monds of rhetoric, to sway or influence those who heard 
him or read his speeches; 1ml he was a leader of men and a 
captain of leaders. Those who knew him intimately may 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 155 

not agree -upon the qualities that enabled him to exercise so 
long his commanding influence, but they will agree he pos- 
sessed and held the scepter apparently without effort, 
whether in or out the Speaker's chair. His intellectual 
equals gravitated to him and followed; thoughtless inferiors 
surrendered themselves to his guardianship; and it was not 
on account of an argument or appeal made at an imminent 
moment. 

When out of sympathy with the majority of his party 
associates in the House of Representatives upon one great 
question, and when, to the looker-on upon the other side, 
personal hatred of him had been engendered, upon other 
than the great disturbing issue Mr. Randall still dominated 
and, I believe, was regarded as the party leader by both 
sides of the House. I would say his great influence over 
those with whom he was associated was not attributable to 
one particular quality, but the natural result of their com- 
bined force. The roots reaching deep into the earth, the 
gigantic trunk, and the widespreading branches with their 
crown of foliage, all make the oak possessed of strength that 
resists the shock of tornadoes and the fierce blasts of the 
storms of a century. 

Mr. Randall was possessed of an intellectual force and 
power that enabled him to perfectly master all the questions 
presented to him in his long legislative service. He was 
always equal to the subject and prepared for the occasion; 
never uncertain in respect to his course or unmeaning or 
doubtful in his advice to others. He was not timorous nor 
was he inconsiderate; and never seemed to be afflicted with 
those troubled experiences of uncertainty that many leaders 
pass through before advising or acting. At the proper 
moment, with quiet manner, without oratory that inflamed 
or any of the arts or methods that excite sympathy or pas- 



156 Address of Mr. Hiscock, of New York, on the 

sion, with few words he resolved all doubts for. his asso- 
ciates. 

Mr. Randall was a just judge of men. It was unneces- 
sary for him to learn by conversation with or personal 
inquiry of the members of the House how they would vote 
upon the important questions affecting public or private 
interests but still nonpartisan in their character. I believe, 
sir, he could, as a rule, from his knowledge of the members' 
character and mental organization, check a division of the 
House. In his administration as Speaker and leadership 
upon the floor, Mr. Randall never descended to tricks, 
combinations, or promises for support, but contested the 
questions fairly and upon their merits. I do not believe he 
ever sought to secure aid or support through the tremendous 
influence and power he possessed as Speaker or as chairman 
of the Committee on Appropriations. In the one position 
he did not bargain away favors; in the other he did not 
promise for support appropriations in which gentlemen or 
their constituents were interested; he did not regard legisla- 
tion as the proper subject for barter and trade. 

Mr. President, I will speak a moment of his organization 
of the committees of the House when he occupied the 
Speaker's chair. They seemed to grow. Openly they were 
formed, the members taking their places as if controlled 
by the natural law of selection on account of their peculiar 
fitness to the interests they severally represented and their 
public repute or representative character. 

Mr. President, I have not spoken of Mr. Randall as 
dead. He became a great personality that can not by that 
great natural change be extinguished or destroyed. He will 
be a historic figure. He was so identified with legislation 
at the time of such vital consequence to the country and 
with an influence reaching so far into the future that the 



Life and Character of Samuel J. Randall. 157 

future statesmen and historians will closely study his char- 
acter. It can hardly be said that the death of any one is an 
irreparable loss to the country; it may be said of his that it 
created a vacancy not yet filled. Independent of party rela- 
tions, he was himself a national political issue; and could 
his vigorous mind have been sustained by the requisite 
physical strength it may be fairly said of him that, like the 
radiation of light from its source, his patriotic and states- 
manlike influence would have been broadened and extended. 

The Presiding Officer. The question is on the adop- 
tion of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Penn- 
sylvania [Mr. Quay]. 

Mr. Plumb. Before the Senator from Pennsylvania 
makes the final motion, I suggest by unanimous consent 
that when the Senate adjourns to-day it be to meet at 12 
o'clock on Monday, only for that occasion. 

The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Kansas asks 
unanimous consent to move that when the Senate adjourns 
to-day it be until Monday next at 12 o'clock. 

The motion was agreed to. 

Mr. Quay. I now move the adoption of the resolutions 
which I submitted. 

The Presiding Officer. The question is on the adop- 
tion of the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Penn- 
sylvania [Mr. Quay]. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously ; and the 
Senate adjourned until Monday, September 15, 1890. at 12 
o'clock m. 



7 



BJa'12 



